Kyuubichan
by edwardthepenguin
Summary: Naruto discovers a rather interesting fact about his tenant.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer - i do not own any of the characters used in this fic with the exception of an OC who will be appearing in later chapters.

" text " normal talk

**" text " **kyubi talk

_" text " _thoughts

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_Prologue_

Our blonde haired hero was sleeping peacefully, mouth wide open with drool dripping off the side of his mouth. He dreamed he was in a dark hallway with water dripping down the walls and sloshing around his feet.

"Where the heck am i again?" he asked himself.

He finally came upon a big cage with a spiral seal in the center. Naruto recognized the Nine-tailed demon fox's prison. He had been here on a few occasion already. From out of nowhere a pair of eyes appeared glaring at him menacingly. Naruto was scared but barely managed to speak.

" Wh..why am i h..here?"

**" YOU DARE SPEAK BEFORE THE GREAT KYUBI! "**

Poor Naruto almost wet his pants when the Demon speaked. Sensing his fright the Demon vanished and in its a place sat a very beautiful woman with long, crimson hair in a very revealing robe appeared.

**" Don't worry Naruto i was just fooling around."** She giggled.

" You..you're a g..girl? " Naruto stuttered while signs a massive nosebleed appearing. Kyubi giggled more and arranged her robe as to not bare so much skin.

**" Yes Naruto i'm a girl, let me formally introduce myself to you as i had been inside your body for 13 years, let you use my ki when you need it but you still don't know me very well..."**

"Uhm...I knew you were Kyubi but i never you were a girl..."

**"HAH! You human males are always like that always thinking you're the superior sex. You lock me up in this drab place not even knowing i was girl! I Kyubi the second most powerful demon lord is a girl and proud of it! _(HELL YEAH)_"**

"Uh..what do you mean second? You mean there's someone out there more powerful than you are?

**" Ah, did i say second..hehe i meant most powerful.."**

"But..."

**" SILENCE! " **Kyubi yelled, eyes flashing red and an enormous amount of chakra leaking from her.

Naruto cowered again from the demon's outburst. Kyubi then smiled like a 10 year old girl and returned to her previous state.

**"Oops, didn't mean to scare you again kit, Anyway it's about time we knew each other personally, after all whether i like it or not we'll be together for quite a while" **

She winked at naruto. Naruto turned red as a tomato.

**"Anyway, I am Kyubi the most powerful of the 9 Great Demon Lords and second, i mean most powerful Demon there is in the mortal or demon realm. Some time ago I was having a bad hair day so i decided to trash a human village. I was having quite a great time when i saw this huge frog with a human on its head. When suddenly i saw nothing but white light and when i woke up i found myself inside this cage. And this is where i have stayed since. And fortunately i never had a bad hair day since." **

Kyubi smiled like a 10 year old gir again. Naruto sweatdropped, listening to the demon talk like destroying an entire village and killing half of its population was something you do everyday.

**" So...what about you? "**

Naruto stuck his nice guy pose. A big goofy grin and a thumbs up.

" I am Uzumaki Naruto, i like ramen, my hobby is eating ramen, i dislike the three minutes it takes for ramen to cook. And my dream is to be the next Hokage and have people acknowlege me! "

Kyubi shook her head at this ramen crazed kid. But she smiled secretly when he mentioned his dream.

**" Listen, kit uhm, Naruto would you like me to help you achieve your dream? "**

" Huh? for real? "

**" yes.. "**

" Uh..you're not mad at me or something? "

**" No, why would i be? "**

" I mean you are locked up inside me after all... "

**" Well, now that you mention it i am pissed i am in this place..."**

Naruto slowly backed away.

**" But don't worry i'm content to stay here now and that rampage i had was enough satisfy me anyway."**

Naruto relaxed. He thought the demon was going to do something nasty to him.

**" Don't worry i won't harm you and even if I wanted to, it would affect me anyway.."**

" Oh yeah, when i die you die right? "

**" Well, yeah, sort of, yes. So..you still want me to help you? " **

" Sure..sure whatever. "

**" There are something i would like in exchange for my help.. "**

" And..wahat is it? " Naruto asked cautiously

**" Well I've been locked here for a while. I wanted to see what's outside. "**

Naruto was nervous, sensing that she wanted to be released from her prison. But Kyubi spoke before he could say something.

**" I just want to be in your mind. So i can see the world with your own eyes. And it makes talking to you more easy. "**

Naruto was relieved that she wasn't asking to be unsealed. Be he was still curious.

" What will happen if you're in my mind? "

**" Well...you will always have a voice in your head. But you can talk to me anytime. You don't have to go to this place anymore. Don't worry i won't do anything bad. So please? "**

Kyubi looked at Naruto with cute, puppydog eyes. Naruto couldn't help but agree seeing her how cute she was like that.

" Ok, i accept. "

**" YAY! "**

Kyubi sqealed gleefully jumping up and down like a kid.

**" Anyway i kept you here too long already. See you! " **

Kyubi blew him a kiss and he had time only to blush a little when everything went black.

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This is my first time writing a fic. Please tell me what you think.


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer - i do not own any of the characters used in this fic with the exception of an OC who will be appearing in later chapters.

" text " normal talk

**" text " **kyubi talk

_" text " _thoughts

A/N : A big thanks to the people who took the time to review.

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_Chapter 1_

A group of about 12 bandits sat around a campfire, drinking and laughing loudly. A huge bearded man, apparently their leader stood up.

" Men.. " he began raising a mug " Although that pathetic village we attack didn't have any thing much, at least we're going to have a lot of fun tonight "

Two girls, aged 16 and 18 who were tied to a nearby tree, shivered while the other men let out a loud laugh and resumed their drinking.

" Please let us go we won't tell anyone about your group, please, " the older of the girls pleaded

" Are you nuts, I haven't had a woman this young and I'm not going to let the oppurtunity pass... " one of the men said, standing ang pressing his hands in the chest of the younger girl.

" Please stop, it hurts.. " the girl cried.

" Bwahaha your cute little voice really turns me on.. "

" I suggest you do what the girl tells you " a figure in a black robe, whose face was completely hidden by a hood, walked into the clearing where the camp was standing.

" Who are you? How did you find us? " one of the bandits yelled.

" If you people weren't so stupid as to make loud noises, you could have had your little fun tonight but no, you had to be so rowdy and for that you sealed your fate. "

Tree branches began sprouting from the ground and surrounding the entire camp, wrapping around every bandit who were tried to attack but was wrapped by the branches. One of two girls who were still tied up recognized the jutsu of the second hokage but she also knew and was sure of it that only the Nidaime knew how to do the technique. "_Who is this...person? ". _In just over a minute everyone of the bandits were wrapped with tree branches, slowly squeezing them to death. They were complety covered not an inch of their bodies was seen that their screams of pain cannot even be heard. ' _That was easy _' The cloaked figure then walked over to the girls and undid the ropes that held them.

" th..thank you... " the younger one stuttered when she was untied. She wrapped her arms around herself, dropped to the ground and trembled. The other one hugged her and said " It's alright now, we're safe. "

" Are you two related ? " Their savior asked.

" Hai..She's my sister, by the way i'm Ayako my sister's name is Ayeka " she said looking up at the man, hoping he would take the hint and introduce himself. However he only told them if they want to go with him it was fine and if they want to go somewhere else it was alright. He then began walking away.

" Wait... " The stranger who had saved them stopped and turned his head back.

" Yes? "

" We'd like to know who our savior is. " The hooded figure looked like he was taking a deep breath, and removed the hood covering his face. The first thing that came to her mind was ' _He's...handsome _'

" Fine, my name is Dan Kazama 18 and single and i love sugared doughnuts " he then grinned at the girls " And you can tell your sister she can stop shaking now "

The younger girl who was still in her sister's arms looked up and blushed slightly. Ayako smiled at the guy who had saved them he was not older than herself and apparently was very friendly. She observed his face more closer, and to her surprise his eyes were of two different colors, one was sapphire blue and one was emerald green. And his lips was a curved in a handsome smile. He noticed her staring at him.

" What? Something in my teeth? "

" No, I was just... "

" Nevermind " he went over Ayeka " It's okay now, those evil stinky old men are not going to hurt you anymore " The girl looked at him and then hugged him. " Arigato.. " she whispered. He gently removed her embrace, " Now, now there's no need to get excited. " Ayako was also a bit surprised by Ayeka's actions. Ayeka stood up wiping hear tears and smiled. " I'm sorry, I just got carried away. "

Dan was glad Ayeka looked fine fine now. He hoped they didn't have any trauma of some sort. He observed the girls carefully, both girls were beautiful. Ayako the older one, looked somewhere between 16 and 18, had shoulder-length hair, and had very nice curves and Ayeka the younger one, looked to be about 14 and unlike her sister had her hair down to her waist and despite being younger she was slighlty bustier than her sister.

" Uhm, so where are you two very pretty ladies going to at this time of the night? It's very dangerous you know for two girls travelling at night unless you two are kunoichis. None of my bussiness anyway, let's go find another place to set camp, this place going to be crawling by morning " he said looking at ominous tree branches that still held its captives. " Unless you two want me to leave already. "

" No, " Ayeka replied, holding both his hands " We would very much appreciate your company. "

" Well, then let's get a move on, but first... " he went over to the belongings of the thieves and took their tent, sleeping bag and a few other things. " Pretty girls don't need to sleep on bare earth you know? "

The three of them began walking to search for a better place set to camp. Ayeka held on to Dan's arm.

" So what's wtih sugared doughnuts? "

* * *

Naruto dropped to the floor the moment he entered his dingy apartment. Every inch of his muscles hurt. Their last mission was to help a family who had just moved houses to get their stuff into their new house. He spent the day carrying bookshelves, cabinets and large boxes of other stuff. Sure he had his Shadow clones help him but conjuring them take their strain on you. He remembered Sasuke and Sakura, just getting the smaller stuff so they were not that tired at all, and Sakura telling him what and idiot he was that the men which the family had hired can do that. They were just their to provide extra help with smaller things. He said to himself then that how can he prove himself when he only did small stuff? He needed to do big stuff! Then there was Kyuubi always talking inside his head, pointing everything she saw and sqHe got up from the floor and crawled to his bed removed his jumpsuit and immediately fell asleep. 

Once again, Naruto found himself in front of the cage the nine-tailed fox. But this time there were no creepy eyes leering at him. " Hello, fox? " He called out several times but no fox-demon showed up. He peered closer in the cage, he found out that he can fit in between the bars. So he went in the cage, and looked around and saw nothing but darkness in every direction. He walked on a little father and saw what looked liked someone lying in a bed. _" What? in a place like this! "_ He went closer and saw the same woman he saw in his last time here, this time she was lying down in a bed, only her lower body was partly covered with a robe her upper body was exposed and he could see her bare chest. Poor Naruto nearly passed out due to massive bloodloss.

**" Naruto- chan, you naughty little boy you shouldn't sneak up on women like that. "** the nine-taled demon assuming the form of a human woman, got up covered herself, picked up Naruto and laid him on the bed.

**" Oh my poor Naruto - chan you looked so tired today, "** she said as carressed his head. Naruto thought now he'd seen everything and could now die peacefully.

**" No Naruto - chan, you haven't seen anything yet, I could show but you've seen enough and you're too young for that. "**

" H..How did you know that? "

**" I'm inside your mind remember? I know everything you're thinking and you can't hide anything from me. "**

" Oh. "

**" Anyway, Naruto - chan I think I'll start training you myself tomorrow. " **Naruto sat up quickly as if he wasn't on the verge of passing out only a few moments ago.

" Really! You will teach me new moves? " The Kyuubi smiled at Naruto **_" He really is energetic "_**

**" No not yet Naruto, first you must increase your strength, stamina and your chakra capacity, then when I see you have improved. I'll teach techniques only I know. "**

Naruto was a bit disappointed, but then he thought you can't rush things. He would do everything to be acknowledge by people around him.

**" That's right, you can't rush things by the way, how did you get in here? "**

"I crawled between the bars "

_**" Of course, he can come and go in this cage as he please, after all he's my jailor. "**_

**" Now, Naruto - chan you must rest now, I kept your here long enough. "**

She held Naruto by the chin and kissed him in the lips. She held him briefly, exploring his mouth with her tongue. Naruto was speechless when she finally released him.

**" Ja-ne "** And everything went black

* * *

Dan stared at the sky as orange streaks appeared signalling the sunrise. He pondered on what his new companions have told him last night. They were from the Hidden Leaf, they went to the Country of Wind to visit their relatives there. They had a sister but she didn't went with them because someone needed to help their father with their bussiness back home. So far nothing important had happened in the Hidden Leaf this past few years. The last major event was the Nine -tailed demon fox ravaging the village. But this two girls were too young to remember that and of course they did not know that. And have no need to know. He felt someone moving from the tent. He saw Ayako getting out of the tent. 

" Ohayo... " Ayako said still a bit sleepy.

" Uh...Good morning to you too... "

At least, he thought he have some companions on his journey to the Hidden Leaf. " _I think it's time for a visit to the great Nine-tailed demon fox. "_

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A/N: I hope this one is better than the last.


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer - i do not own any of the characters used in this fic with the exception of an OC who will be appearing in later chapters.

" text " normal talk

**" text " **kyubi talk

_" text " _thoughts

A/N: Thanks again to the nice people who took the time to review and to those who corrected a few mistakes of mine.

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_Chapter 2_

_It was windy day in the Hidden Leaf, in a park somewhere in the village was a girl sitting in one of the numerous benches scattered around and appeared she was waiting for someone, her lovely pink haired that fell _

_down to her shoulders swayed slightly in the wind. She sees a rather handsome raven-haired boy walking to her. Her heart leapt with joy seeing who it was. _

_" Sasuke-kun? " the new arrival approach her and sat next to her._

_" Sakura, you have a very cute forehead makes me want to kiss it. " _

_" Sasuke-kun... "_

_"Sakura-chan... "_

_They inched their faces closer to each other, until their lips met. Sakura felt she was now in heaven. She opened her eyes slighlty to see if she wasn't dreaming. What she saw made her scream._

_" NARUTO! "_

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A loud scream was heard in the Haruno household in the early hours of a saturday morning. Some neighbors who have been awakened yelled out their window to keep it down. Mrs. Haruno rushed to her daughter's room to see what was wrong. She saw Sakura sitting in her bed eyes wide as saucers and panting heavily.

" Sakura? What's wrong did you have a nightmare? " she said putting an arm around her daughter.

" No mom, well...sort of but I'm okay now "

" Are you sure you're alright? "

" Yes mom, I'm alright maybe I'll foget it if I sleep again. "

" Ok, are you sure you don't want to tell me about it? "

" No mom I'd rather forget it now. "

" Alright, since it's saturday anyway. " She tucked Sakura back in bed, kissed her in the forehead and left.

Sakura hugged her pillow closer. She still can't forget about that dream or nightmare rather,she had been smooching Sasuke-kun but opened her eyes and instead saw Naruto kissing her back. And that's when she snapped and woke up screaming her head off. She can still feel his lips on her own and his tongue touching with hers as they... '_AAHHH! WHAT AM I THINKING! ' ( Inner Sakura " NARUTO I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! ") _Sakura closed her eyes and coverd her face with her pillow and tried to sleep forcing Naruto out of her mind.

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Naruto was running laps near the walls surrounding the village drawing some stares from the guards which he came across. Kyuubi told him this the first step of his training, to increase his stamina so she told him to run 10 laps around the village. He was now on his 7 lap and he was only a bit tired.

" Kyuubi? "

**" Yes Naruto - chan? "**

" This is boring, why don't you just teach me some new techniques? "

**" Hmmm...boring you say tommorrow you run 10 laps around the village with 50 pound weights "**

" EH! "

**" If you do that I'm going to teach you a move that can paralyze your opponent just by looking at him. "**

" You will? YAY that's great!. " Naruto started thinking about how he can finally defeat Sasuke just by looking at him. He felt revitalized and started to run faster.

**" Naruto - chan you don't seem to feel tired at all so I'm increasing it to twenty laps "**

" EH! "

**" And I would like it if you called me Kyuubi - chan " **she giggled.

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It was a brigt sunny Saturday morning in Konoha, no missions or training of any sort ( at least for those below chuunin level), yet one particular raven haired boy did not want to waste one day to do the things kids his age would probably be doing right now. Instead he was going to train, to be stronger, to be able to kill his brother. He proceeded to the training ground where Team 7 usually do their training, however before he could arrive there he saw a familiar orange-clad figure run past him but apparently did not notice him (since he was a little far from his position). He thought ' _Where is that idiot going? '_. So he decided to shadow him and began running to catch up with Naruto.

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Sasuke panted heavily, trying to catch his breath he had just followed Naruto 2 times around the village and it was obvious that Naruto wasn't going anywhere, he was just running around. '_Could he be training?'_ he thought. _' Damn couldnt even keep up with him.'_ Sasuke decided to go home and rest since he was pooped and thought that chasing after Naruto had been a sort of training anyway.

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Naruto hadn't been aware he wa being followed by Sasuke but Kyuubi was and was satisfied that the Uchiha hadn't been able to keep up with Naruto. However, Naruto was also very tired and his run had slowed down to a jog. She decided it was enough.

**" Okay you can stop now "**

Naruto instantly dropped face-first to the ground panting like a dog. He had already lost count of how many times he had circle the village.

**" That wasn't so bad at all, 194 laps just 6 short of 200 "**

Naruto groaned inwardly that he hadn't been able to complete the 200 laps.

**" But since I love you sooooo much... I'm going to teach you this move I'm telling you about. "**

Naruto sat up with a big grin. "You really going to teach me that? "

**" Yes my dear Naruto but you need to rest first, now go home and take a nap then we will begin. "**

Naruto quickly got up and went home as fast as his stamina (which wasn't much by now) would allow. But first he went to the Ichiraku to eat._' There's no way I'm going to learn a new move on an empty stomach '_ Ayame greeted him sweetly when she saw him and went immediatelyto fill his order. She came back a short while and Naruto dug in and ordererd another before he was even finished. The second was qucikly history and Naruto paid and immediately went to his house. He sank into his (battered) couch and closed his eyes he then remembered he was a little messy and decided to take a shower and then changed in another orange jumpsuit. Kyuubi thought **_' Is that all he wears? Sheesh..'._**

Naruto then sat on the floor and said earnestly " Now about that... "

**" Naruto-chan I said take a nap. "**

" But.. "

**" No buts. "**

Naruto sighed then layed on his bed and tried to sleep and slowly, felt his consciousness slipping.

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The Country of the Wind was windy place hence, the name. It was very pleasant indeed if not for the fact that ninety percent of the country was a barren desert wasteland, so the wind also picked up this tiny sand particles making it somewhat unpleasant and if the wind blew hard enough, massive sandstorms are formed engulfing any unlucky, hapless traveller it comes across with sand and more sand. In this case it was three travellers, one which seemed rather prepared for the onslaught of sand and two which are not so prepared.

Dan, Ayako and Ayeka sat behind a sand dune waiting for the sandstorm to pass. They had come from the Country of Earh passing thru the Hidden Village of Grass they would have went on the Hidden Village of Rain but his two companions wanted to go the Hidden Village of Sand for reasons known only to them and know the two seemed to be regretting that decision. He listened as the two sisters argued that they shouldn't have been here in the first place and was telling the other it was her fault.

" Now you two stop it, there should be a village about six miles from here and we should go there before nightfall. " The two girls stopped talking but glared at each other.

" How do you know that? " Ayeka asked

" I have been here before " he noticed the sandstorm was dying down and thought it best to proceed immediately.

" The sandstorm is slowly dying, we should proceed now. " Ayeka groaned and complained they had been walking since morning and it would not hurt if they rested for a while.

" Have you ever been out in the desert at night? " Ayeka shook her head.

" I tell you its cold out here, real cold and your outfits don't look it will keep you warm at night so we should get going now and at our pace it would take us 4 hours to reach it. " Ayame and Ayeka looked down at themselves and then at Dan. Dan was covered from head to toe in the same black cloak, while the two of them were wearing short skirts and a shirt.

" Is that why you are wearing that cloak? " Ayako asked

" No, but I look cool don't I? " the girls sweat-dropped at his reply. " Let's get going now before the sandstorm builds up again " he said helping the two to their feet.

The girls each grabbed on one of Dan's arms and glared at each other. Dan was pleasantly surprised by the their action but he didn't say anything to them.

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Once again, Naruto found himself in the deepest recess of his mind, standing in front the ever-familiar structure which is the jail of the nine-tailed fox. The fox was near the bars, standing with her arms crossed. This time though, she was properly covered.

**" What are you standing there for? Get your ass in here! "** Naruto swallowed and entered the cage through the slots between the bars. Kyuubi seemed to be serious this time and he didn't want to get on her badside.

**" I'm going to teach you how to radiatekiller intent to paralyze opponents and leave them wide open for stronger attacks or just scare the hell out of annoying people to leave you alone. "**

Amazingly, Naruto didn't say a word and just nodded vigorously.

**" But first I'm going to show you what it does. Now look into my eyes. " **

Naruto did as he was told, and instantly he saw images of him pierced with various weapons, his own blood splattered all around him and a large fox clawing at him, blaring it's fangs at him which was covered in his own blood. Naruto then lost the image and he felt himself drained of energy unable to move his whole body, half his brain screamed at him to move but the half seemed to be terrified to death. He then felt arm's being wrapped around him and a light peck on the lips making him drop the feeling of pain and fear.

**" I hope I didn't scare you too much but it had to be done. " **She gently pushed him away from her. **" I'm going to teach you to counter it too so when anyone uses it on you it will have no effect. "**

Naruto was awed by the technique, simple at it seems. The idea of being able to that thrilled him greatly.

**" Now come, we have something to do. "**

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**

The Government Building or more commonly known as the Hokage Tower was particularly empty as the civilian employees were not at work save for the few shinobi staff since it was a Saturday. In a room somewhere in the building a cloaked figure and shinobis were holding a conference. The cloaked figure or better known as the Sandaime Hokage began speaking.

" I have met with the leaders of the other hidden villages and some have already confirmed that one team from their respective villages are going to participate "

" Hokage-sama, " one of the nins in the room said. " Are you sure this is the right time? After all the last.. "

" Yes I am and the other village leaders have already decided, we will be holding the next Chuunin exam this year here in our village in four days. "

There were murmurs around the room immediately. Sarutobi thought they were probably thinking it was too early since the last was only four months ago.

" The Kazekage has been pressuring the other leaders to hold it earlier so we all agreed, we don't see anything wrong with it. " he paused and coughed a bit.

" Now about the teams from our village... "

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Naruto gleefully skipped to their team's usual meeting place it was still early yet but he decided to get there early as he was in a very good mood. He had just spent the past day practicing his new technique, it wasn't as scary yet as Kyuubi but he had already scared the hell out of stray cats, he can't wait to try it on other people but Kyuubi had emphasized that it was to be use only on real battles. He arrived at the bridge and found that nobody there yet. He then decided to look for more stray cats so he can practice more but he saw Sasuke approaching just as he was living.

" Ohayo, Sasuke-teme! " he greeted him as cheerful as he could. Sasuke just glared and leaned on the railings of the bridge looking over the water while Naruto rattled on about how he was finally going to kick his ass and other things he didn't even bother to listen to. This went on for a few an hour before they both felt Sakura arriving. Naruto then ran over to Sakura and greeted her as he had greeted Sasuke. Sasuke just smirked at Naruto when Sakura hit him on the head. Sakura for the most part has now gotten over her dream or rather nightmare about Naruto but seeing Naruto somehow makes her remember it.

" GET AWAY FROM ME NARUTO! " Sakura screamed. Naruto just rubbed the lump on his head and wondered what he did wrong. Sasuke just wished their perpetually arrived at least an hour earlier today. And it seemed the heavens granted his wish for a few moments later, the silver-haired jounin arrived in a puff of smoke.

" Hello, everyone! " Sakura and Naruto, were to awed to say anything, for the first time Kakashi was actually on time. Kakashi immediately went straight to bussiness and handed each one of them a form.

" Kakashi-sensei, what is this for? " Naruto asked while examining his form.

" It's an application to join the upcoming Chuunin Selection Exams in three days " Kakashi replied

" Yay! Yay! I waited forever for this! I love you so much Kakasi-sensei! " Naruto jumped around and hugged Kakashi.

"Get off me Naruto! " after getting Naruto of him " Now that is just a nomination its up to you if you really want to join. That's all "

Kakashi vanished leaving two excited and one not so excited gennins standing on the bridge.

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A hooded figure and two girls approached the Hidden Village of the Sand which was currenty having its daily dose of sand and wind from the desert. Dan was smiling gleefully as he had both girls on his arms on the pretense of protecting them from the sandstorm. The two had stubbornly refused to wear cloaks as they claimed they weren't fashionable not that he was complaining but their ceaseless whining had been rather annoying. It had been three days since they entered the Country of The Wind and they were getting closer to the Country of Fire. He removed his hood as he approached the Nin guarding the gate and said they were travellers, seeking shelter from the sandstorm. The guard looked at them for the moment and waved them in. The wind abated a bit since the village was protected by walls and there wasn't as much sand flying around as in the desert. He looked around for an inn and found one suitably near a public bathhouse and checked in.

" Ah..I cant wait until we get home, I'm getting sick of the sand already. " Ayeka moaned as they entered their room and plopped on the bed.

" Don't lie on the bed dummy, you'll get sand on it! " Ayako said as she dusted herself, though she agreed with her sister, she was getting sick of the sand too. She noticed Dan still wearing his cloak.

" Don't you ever remove that thing? I mean never saw you out of that thing. "

" Hm...You're right maybe I should. " he removed his cloak and shook it hard, shaking out quite a lot of sand. Both girls stared at him. He was wearing a black, cargo pants with a pair of daggers strapped behind him and combat shoes. His shirt was was form fitting and short-sleeved showing off well developed muscles.

" Uhm..Why are you staring? "

" Uh...I'm going to the bathhouse! " Ayeka grabbed a her pack and went out of the door leaving Ayako.

" Hey wait... " Ayako called as she made an attempt to follow her sister but decided against it. She decided to know their companion a little more better since most of their time together he had been rather quiet and spoke when it was only neccesary and stayed away from the sisters whenever they were in a town. She watched him as he opened a window and shaked his cloak outside.

" So...Where are you from? " Dan looked at her first before replying as if to see if she was to be trusted.

" I knew this was coming.. Do you really want to know? " Ayako nodded

" Well, I was born in the Hidden Leaf but moved to Hidden Mist when I was five in the Hidden Mist I met a retired shinobi who taught me most of I knew. When he died I just wandered around from one place to another and so on... "

" But the technique you used when you saved us.. I know only one person who can use it..the First, How.. "

" You're apparently mistaken " he interrupted. " Though I can't really do it in the scale of the Shodaime. Do you know the So called Forest of Death back in the Leaf? "

" The one were exams are held? yes. "

" That was the Shodaime's work or so they say. "

" Really? wow... "

Dan closed the window and hanged his cloak on a chair then plopped in a couch.

" Don't you want to take a bath? You should freshen up a bit. We leave tomorrow morning. "

" Yes, I think I should " Ayako took some of her things and left to go to the bathhouse. Dan looked up at the ceiling as she left, he didn't really like to lying to people that had become some sort of friends. But telling them a Demon Lord was witht them was a not good idea either.

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A/N: Pardon me if that was boring.


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer - i do not own any of the characters used in this fic with the exception of an OC who will be appearing in later chapters.

" text " normal talk

**" text " **kyubi talk

_" text " _thoughts

A/N: Once again I wish to thank the nice people who took the time to review. And I'm not going to detail out the first test and the events prior because imo, that was boring so I headed straight to the second test.

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_Chapter 3_

Team 7 and the rest of the remaining teams stood near one of the gates of the Forest of Death, where the second test will be held. The examiner, Mitarashi Anko explained that each team will be given one of two kinds of scrolls, an Earth scroll or a Heaven scroll. The goal of the test is to obtain both scrolls by any means neccessary and get to the tower in the middle of the forest with all of your teammates. A team is disqualified if one is killed or incapacitated, if they lose their scroll or if they did not make it to the tower within the time limit , which was five days, with the two scrolls. With the important details done, she handed out forms to be signed and explained they were waivers saying that the examiner is in no way responsible to whatever will happen to you during the exam and told them once they were done, they will exchange their forms with a scroll.

The teams then scattered to fill out their forms and some took the time to pick out possible targets. Sakura felt the The team from the Grass kept looking at her team the whole time Anko was speaking and what made her more uncomfortable was they looked very creepy and strong. Her thoughts was interrupted by the examiner yelling that the exam will begin in 30 minutes. She looked around, looking at the others and it seemed to her that everyone looked strong and she was quite intimidated that she didn't notice Naruto approach her.

" Sakura-chan? Are you alright "

" Oh, Naruto... " she looked to her hyper-active, loudmouthed and ramen-crazed teammate. " Its just that everyone looks... "

" Don't worry Sakura-chan, " Naruto struck his nice guy pose. " I'll make sure that we pass this test and kick everyone's ass and protect you so don't worry about anything! "

Sakura just smiled at him. Naruto always had a way of making even the most depressed people a little happier. A little while later, everyone was now gathered at various the various gates to the forest as Anko started the countdown. Everyone was getting excited as other examiners unlocked that gates and prepared to open them.

" 3, 2, 1, GO! " Anko gave the signal and the gates where thrown wide open as every team rushed to forest at full speed. The second exam has begun.

The three Grass nins that were looking at Team 7 earliserrushed into the forest, chasing after them.

" Those guys we are after right? " one of them said

" Yes, the team with the Uchiha. " their leader, a creepy looking woman replied, licking her lips with her abnormally long tongue.

_" Sasuke-kun, don't disappoint me. "_

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Team 7 were hoping over three branches, searching for a suitable location to place traps.

**" Naruto, there are three people who are following you. "** Naruto stopped immediately. Sasuke and Sakura stopped to.

" What are you doing? " Sasuke asked glaring at him. Sakura had the same look on her face.

" Uh..nothing " he mumbled then dropped into a clearing below. He then asked Kyuubi if they were strong.

**" Hmph, they're pathetic you can take them alone. "**

Sasuke and Sakura were confused by their teammates actions and followed him. They found him with a stupid grin on his face.

" What now Naruto? " Sakura was now annoyed. Standing out here in the open was asking to be killed.

" Uh... i got to pee be right back! " Naruto sheepishly answered and went behind some trees to do his thing. His two teammates just sweatdropped as they sat to wait for their teammate to return. It took a while before any of them noticed that Naruto was taking too long.

" Grrrr...Where is that stupid Naruto! He's taking too long. " Sakura said clearly annoyed. Sasuke however doesn't feel right. What if Naruto has been ambushed? He toyed around with their scroll, an Earth scroll, they had decided that he should hold it, since Naruto was too stupid and Sakura was not that strong to defend herself. His insticts told him to check Naruto but he didn't want to leave Sakura alone. They were both relieved when they heard someone come out from the trees.

" Sasuke-kun..How are you? "

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Meanwhile, Naruto tracked down the team that were following them, with a little help from Kyuubi. They were quite surprised when the found out that they had been discovered. Naruto looked at their hitai-ate and noticed they were from the Hidden Mist. The nins laughed at him, telling him he was stupid enough to take on the three of them alone.

**" Give them a taste of hell "** Naruto smiled at Kyuubi's comment and glared at his opponents concentrating hard. The three Mist nins suddenly stopped laughing and froze in their tracks, and dropped to the ground and were shaking very much. Naruto noticed that one of them had wet his pants and snickered. He went over to them and search them.

" Lucky! " he said gleefully as he held up a Heaven scroll. He then went back to where Sakura and Sasuke where waiting.

_" That was easy! "_

**" Of course, if you just listen to me this test will be a breeze. "** Naruto just smiled _" Maybe she's right "_

Naruto arrived at where he left his teammates and found another person standing there. Then he noticed that Sasuke and Sakura on their knees and shaking.

" What the hell? "

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In another part of the forest, a jounin was moving at full-speed searching for someone.

_" It can't be! Why did he come back? What does he want no!"_

-/Flashback/-

" Anko-sama, please you have too see this! " a chuunin examiner said to her while she was happily eating.

"What is it now? " she stood up and followed the chuunin to three stone figures. She saw three dead shinobis but what was strange was..

" As you can see, they're faces look like they had been ripped off. "

_" No! It's definitely his technique! " _she said to herself as her former sensei came to her mind.

" Call the Anbu and send them to the forest, then inform Hokage-sama " she ordered as she ran to the forest fearing the worst.

-/End Flashback-/

_" What are you doing here...Orochimaru? "_

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_

Naruto stared at the figure before him that scared the hell out of Sakura and even the bastard Sasuke.

**" Be careful, this one is strong and I smell a snake, literally." **Kyuubi warned

Naruto figured that this one has to be strong if he made even Sasuke wet his pants, so he had to be careful. He thought his first priority was to get Sakura and Sasuke first.

**" Wow, Naruto you're getting smarter now.. "** he ignored Kyuubi's comments then threw shurikens at his opponent while creating clones to attack while he himself rushed to where his teammates were shaking.

" Sakura-chan? Sasuke what happened? " he noticed that Sakura crying and Sasuke staring wide-eyed at their attacker. He was then surprised that he was holding the shurikens he threw but his clones were also gone.

" Smart move, but not good enough Naruto-kun. "

" Na...Naruto.. " Naruto turned to Sasuke who tried to speak while shaking like hell. " Ta.ta..take Sakura and r..run, this guy is strong. "

Naruto then looked at their opponent who was now looking directly at him he wondered why he hadn't attack yet.

**" He used his killer-intent on your teammates, that why they're scared out of their wits, you will be able to resist it don't worry. "**

Naruto was also looking intently at his opponent, also radiating his killer-intent. The other was also surprised that he was not affected by his killer intent but also appeared to be transmitting his own killer intent.

**" I'll lend give you some of my power, fight him! "**

The grass-nin now noticed that Naruto's eyes were now slitted and red and that he was starting to feel fear and made a few steps back. The instant he moved Naruto made shadow clones which carried away Sasuke and Sakura he himself dashed toward the Grass nin. His opponent was startled a bit, but managed to throw the shurikens that he was holding at Naruto. He more surprised when Naruto avoided them in mid-air that he had barely time to notice the fist that was flying towards his face. Naruto followed by more punches before kicking him in the gut, sending him crashing into a tree trunk. The Grass-nin crashed into thet ree at full-force forming a large hole in the trunk and sending bits of wood and dust around. Naruto calmed down a bit and stood, waiting for his opponent to come out of the rubble. By now Sakura and Sasuke were back to their normal selves and watch Naruto fight. They were awed that Naruto practically kick the nin's ass while they themselves cowered in fear making Sasuke feel uncomfortable. Sakura called out to cheer Naruto, and the idiot that Naruto is turned his back on the enemy to give Sakura a thumbs-up that he didn't notice the long tongue coming at him from behind.

" Naruto,behind you! " Sasuke screamed but Naruto didn't react fast enough as the tongue wrapped around him and the Grass-nin slowly approached him.

" So this the vessel of the Nine-tails, " he said to himself as he gathered chakra in one hand at his fingertips " And he learned to tap the power of the Nine-Tails. "

He thent thrust his hand into Naruto's stomach. " Five part seal! "

Naruto's eyes slowly returned to normal and he felt himself being drained of energy as the Grass-nin released him from his hold and tossed him to a ledge side like a discarded doll.

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Sasuke stared in horror as he saw what happened to Naruto. He already knew that they wouldn't win against this guy but Naruto held his own against him and now he was unconscious. They would have ran now if it wasn't for Naruto. He turned to Sakura who was as shaken as he was.

" Sakura, get Naruto while I distract him. Then take him and get of here. I'll follow you when I can. " he said while preparing some shurikens.

" But Sasuke-kun, this guy is too strong even for you... "

" Just take Naruto and leave! " Sakura just stared as Sasuke left to face their opponent.

" Be careful Sasuke-kun. "

" Now where were we Sasuke-kun... "

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Sasuke carefully sized up his opponent. His plan was to fight him until Sakura had taken Naruto had gotten far away from here then he himself will follow, if he makes it out of here.

" The famed Only Survivor of the Uchiha doesn't seem so great now isn't he? " the Grass-nin smiled licking his lips with his tongue, which Sasuke noticed were quite long and resembled a snake. He gritted his teeth seeing his enemy was taunting him to attack first, but he tried to keep his cool he didn't want to end up like Naruto.

" What's the matter Sasuke-kun? scared now aren't you? My my, the last Uchiha is nothing but a big chicken you disappoint me. "

Sasuke was trying to keep his cool but was failing miserably, no one ever called him a chicken and get away with it. No one. He cursed as he activated his sharingan and threw three shurikens at his opponent. And jumped. His opponents dodged the shurikens and followed Sasuke and lashed out with his tongue. Sasuke barely dodged and threw more shurikens while landing on a tree branch he then made a few handseals.

" Katon, Housenka! " several fire blasts came out from his mouth and flew towards the Grass shinobi. He easily dodged them but he didn't notice them circle him and the thin strings that followed it. By the time he did the shurikens had circled around him and seemed to be wrapping around him. He cursed as he was pulled towards a tree and tied it with the chakra strings. Sasuke made more handseals as he held the strings.

" Katon, Ryuuka! " as large stream of fire, flew towards the Grass-nin, travelling on the chakra strings, completely obliterating him. He relaxed a bit, breathing hard as the jutsu uses up a lot of chakra. he then prepared to check on Naruto and Sakura and get away form here.

" Not bad, Sasuke-kun that's why I want you. " Sasuke turned and saw his opponent stand up. He cursed himself, he was slightly tired now and his opponent seemed unscathed. He didn't had time to move as the Grass nin's neck grew longer and snaked towards him aiming for his head. He screamed as he felt two fangs sink in the back of his neck. His enem'y neck then retracted, and he saw him removed a mask and revealed his real face.

" Wh..who are you? " Sasuke blurted as he slowly sank into unconsciousness.

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Sakura had heard Sasuke scream and immediately rushed to where he was engaging their attacker. She was horrified when she saw the Grass-nin's long neck as it snaked toward Sasuke and bit him. She then saw him removed a mask and revealed a more creepier face.

" Who are you? What did you do to Sasuke-kun! " she screamed as she rushed over to Sasuke who was writhing in pain holding his neck on where he was biten.

"I'll have you know, my name is Orochimaru and I just gave Sasuke a present. "

Sakura saw seals appear near the spot where he was bitten. Sasuke started screaming again, this time a little bit louder, obviously the seal was causing the pain.

" What have you done to Sasuke! " Sakura was now very angry.

" Do not worry, my gift will help him very much and he will want to find me again for more. " Orochimaru replied as he stepped back and seemed to sink into the ground. " I'll be waiting Sasuke-kun "

Sakura watched as Orochimaru vanished and turned her attention to Sasuke. He had stop screaming and the pain was now subsiding. She gasped as he touched his forehead.

" Sasuke-kun! You have a fever! " However Sasuke didn't respond and was now unconscious. Sakura put Sasuke's head closer to her and look upwards to the sky wondering what she will do now, all her teammates were now incapacitated and she was now alone.

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Anko sat on a rock somewhere on a plain just outside the forest covering the wound in her left hand with appendages. Her worst fears have come true, Orochimaru has come back and that's not all.

-/Flashback/-

She can feel his presence. He was near. She run faster and dropped to the ground below and threw a bunch of kunai at a tree. Orochimaru slowly melted back into the tree seeing the attack.

" You won't escape! Shadow Snake hand! " snakes came out of her sleeves and flew toward Orochimaru dragging him out. She then went closer and then brought his and her hand together and pierced a kunai through. She then started making seals.

" Double Snake... "

" Are you going to commit suicide? "

Anko looked up and saw the figure before her turn to mud which then slowly melted away. She slowly removed the kunai and sank to the ground. Orochimaru came closer and touched her cheek.

" You want to assasinate Hokage-sama don't you? "

" No Anko, I don't have enough resources now for that but maybe later I will." he stood up and rubbed his chin while looking at Anko " But there is someone in this exam that I want. " He then gave Anko a threatening glare. " And for Konoha's sake, make sure the exams will continue. " And then Orochimaru vanished.

-/End Flashback/-

Two ANBU members appeared in front of her.

" You sure took your damn time coming here. "

" Now don't say that Anko. " one of the Anbu replied but was cut short as Anko screamed and collapsed to the ground holding her neck. " The cursed seal! It's active again? Is he... "

" Yes, " Anko interrupted " Orochimaru is back."

" We must inform the Hokage, and stop the test. " the Anbu replied.

" No. He threatened to do something if we stop the exam. We need to be more careful. I must tell Hokage-sama. "

" But why did he come back here? "the Anbu wondered as they prepared to leave.

" He is after the last Uchiha. "

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In her prison, the Great Nine-Tailed Fox felt the whole place shake and looked like anytime soon it may collapse. She wondered what will happen to her if the prison did collapse. She saw the creepy snake-guy punch Naruto in the stomach or she thought she did. And then she saw the enormous seal that kept her lock in the cage glow, and was getting brighter every moment until the whole area was covered with light. She closed her eyes, unable to withstand the glare of light. When her sight was restored. She got the biggest shock in her life since being imprisoned inside Naruto. The huge doors that contained her inside the cage was now slightly ajar and one thing came to her mind.

" Freedom! "

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A/N: Do you people want pairings?


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer - all original naruto characters are not mine

A/N: Again, I wish to thank the nice people who reviewed.

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_Chapter 4_

Sakura looked at the sleeping Sasuke occasionally changing the wet towel on his forehead. His fever had gone down a bit and showed no more ill-effects from the seal Orochimaru put on him. However she was worried about her other teammate she had searched for him in the ledge he fell through, which was not that deep, but she couldn't find him in that vicinity she looked as long as she can though she finally gave up later because she was worried someone might come on Sasuke and attack. So she took Sasuke and went to search for a suitable resting area and she had found a nice place on the base of a tree where the large roots have formed a canopy. She then laid Sasuke and then thought about Naruto. Where was he now? Is he safe? Had he been eaten by wide animals? She berated herself for being scared out of her wits when he fought the Orochimaru guy. She could have jumped in to help but she stood back shaking in her pants. She was very sleepy now but she tried her best to keep awake.

_" Sakura, help me... " Sakura stared as Sasuke slowly crawled to her, bleeding from all sides and pierced from all side with shuriken, kunai and even katanas. She shrank as she saw Sasuke's eyes which was covered in blood. _

_" Sakura, why did you leave me? Why did you leave me to die in that place... Sakura-chan... " she then saw Naruto's body sprawled on where he fell a pool of blood underneath him, his face in a distorted expression, eyes staring back at her._

_Then she saw someone that almost made her faint. Orochimaru was slowly approaching her, eyes full of killing-intent and sneering at her._

_" Now Sakura it is time to join your pathetic teammates. " Orochimaru then drew several kunai and shuriken and threw them towards her. She was too scared to move and all projectiles hit her._

_" No...this can't be, Sasuke-kun, Naruto... " once again images of her dying teammates flashed before her berating her for being too weak, being useless and being a coward._

_"Sakura, you have failed your teammates, you are weak, you are useless and you must die. " Orochimaru drew a katana and slashed her neck splashing blood everywhere._

_" NOOOO! "_

Sakura woke up suddenly, shaking for her nightmare. She then looked at Sasuke, who was still sleeping then she sadly remembered that Naruto was not with them.

_" Don't worry Naruto, I'll find you no matter what. And Sasuke-kun, I'll protect you with my life. "_

She didn't notice three Sound ninjas watching her from behind bushes.

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A few moments before Sakura came to the place where Naruto fell, a rather strange event had took place. A scarlet-haired woman, appeared to be pulling herself out from Naruto's body. When she was done, she looked at her environment and smiled. She released the raw energy inside her that was pleading to be released then relaxed. She then look over to the blonde boy. _' He's even more cute from this perspective.'_ she said to herself. She then took the boy in her arms and carried him to look for a better location to rest. _' Ugh, he sure is heavy. '_

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The three travellers felt relieved when they saw a forest up ahead. After seeing nothing but sand for the past few days, they finally get too see some greenery and no more sand blowing in their faces. The cloaked one removed his hood and stared as they entered the border of Fire and Wind countries.

_" It's been a while since I left, I wonder if he's still alive.. "_

" Who's the current Kage in Konoha now? " he asked the girls.

" Umm...Why would you care about that? You are not here to assasinate him are you? " Ayeka answered looking at him suspiciously.

"Ayeka! " Ayako stared at her sister in disbelief.

" And, What if I want to? " he replied smiling at Ayeka.

" You... "

" The Sandaime is still the Hokage, most people say he's too old and retire. He said that he would very much want to retire but he feels there's no one is good enough to replace him yet. " Ayako interrupted before Ayeka can say more.

" How did you know all that? "

" I work at the Government building, I'm the one who handles the documents that come in and out of his office. And on some days if the paperwork overwhelms him, he says such things. "

" Interesting... " Dan appeared to be thinking of something.

" And why are you interested in that? " Ayeka started again.

" Sarutobi thought me when I was young. "

" Impossible... " both girls stared at him.

" Well I was very young then, I was around 8 I think..." he then looked at the sky dreamily. " And I would have learned more from him, if I didn't have too leave. "

" Why did you leave anyway? " Ayeka asked getting really curious.

" I don't want to talk about it. "

" Oh... "

The three of them walked on in silence.

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The Nine-Tails looked at the boy snoring in her lap, occasionally caressing his hear. It been two fours since she was out. She wondered when would he wake up. Then she thought the way she got out. She knew the seal was only partly destroyed and she felt something was missing in her but she could not point out what it was. She definitely still had her demonic chakra, as she felt it stirring in her wanting be let out. A part of her wanted to return inside Naruto as being with him for his whole life had made her attached to him. But also the feeling of finally being free was exciting her. She hadn't had much fun in a while and she will have it sooner or later. She smiled at the idea of wreaking havoc again. But then she berated herself, she didn't want to destroy anything the place Naruto loved so much, which despised him in return. As long as she was with him she was happy enough. She then noticed Naruto beggining to wake up. ' _Finally_ ' she said to herself.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. He felt rather refreshed. Then he saw the girl looking down at him. He then sprung up fully awake.

" Ahhh! Who the heck are you? " Naruto screamed while looking at her suspiciously. For some reason she felt vaguely familiar.

" Awww...Don't tell me you haven't forgotten me..Naruto-chan.. " then Naruto remembered. The voice in his head. The girl in his dreams.

" You're the... "

" The Great Nine-tailed Fox demon who thirteen years ago, almost leveled the Leaf Village. You can call me Kyuubi-chan! "

" Right... " Naruto stared disbelievingly. Here was the demon which everyone was afraid of. But acted like a young, immature girl.

" But how did you get out, and what happened to Sakura-chan and and Sasuke? " now he felt frantic, he was separated from his teammates and here he was with a demon who might kill him for what he's worth.

" You hurt my feelings Naruto-chan, why would I want to kill you? You know I like you very much. And don't worry about your teammates, we'll find them and pass these test with flying colors. " however she thought it strange that she knew what he was thinking when she wasn't inside him anymore. And Naruto was surprised as well but was too curious to say it and also he was worried about his teammates.

" But how did you get out? "

" It seemed that the seal the creepy guy with a long tongue made a mistake when he put that seal on you. " Naruto then remembered his fight with the Grass ninja. " For some reason instead of sealing my chakra away from you, he opened the gate to my prison although just a little but it was enough, so here I am. "

" So...that means I can't access your chakra anymore? " he was a little bit dissapointed in that. He had depended on it when things got too tough.

" I don't know for sure... We'll find out sooner. But I can't be seen right now what will people think? " Naruto looked at her agreed. She was wearing the same thing the previous times they had met and it didn't look right to see someone like that out in the forest.

" But I don't have anything.. "

" Oh no worries I'll turn to something else. " saying that, she turned into a fine-looking wolf. Naruto wondered why she did not turn into a fox. Then he remembered that foxes are taboo in the Leaf since " that " incident.

" Now, get some rest we will search for your teammates when you feel better. And after you PASS this exam we will sort out this mess. "

Naruto had no choice but to wait, even though he was worried about Sakura ( he couldn't feel the same about Sasuke ), but Kyuubi's words made him feel a little better. After all, he had the Great Nine Tailed Deomn Fox helping him, what could go wrong?

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Sakura rubbed her eyes, as she woke, she had fallen asleep again without knowing it and she was relieved nothing happened during the night. She put a hand on Sasuke's forehead was glad that his fever had gone. He just needed some rest and he will be fine. Or so she thought. Then focusing again on their lost teammate, she felt angry at herself, for she could do nothing, she can't leave Sasuke in this condition and even if she did what chances of finding him out there? There was nothing to do but hope for the best. She got a towel that was hanging from a root and wiped Sasuke's face with it. She stared dreamily at his face, dreaming of the day when those cold eyes would look at her not with coldness but with love. She really loved Sasuke. Not the the "fangirl love" but "real love". Even her mother told her that she was too obsessed with that boy. She was busy daydreaming that she didn't feel the three sound-nins that were standing behind her until one of them called out.

" Hey you, Stop dreaming. "

Startled, she turned around and saw a girl and two guys, one of them had his head wrapped up in bandages. She grabbed a kunai and cut a string beside her. The girl-nin noticed it and laughed.

" You're a pathetic excuse for a ninja, we already disabled your traps when you were busy dreaming about your loverboy. "

The bandaged-guy walked closer and motioned towards Sasuke.

" Wake-up that guy. "

" What do you want with him? " Sakura stood up grabbing another kunai preparing to fight.

" We will kill Sasuke and after we have finished we will kill you. "

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Just behind some bushes, near Sakura's location, a blonde girl, a pony-tailed boy and fat-ass dude were watching Sakura.

" What will we do? " the pony-tailed boy asked their girl teammate.

" Ino! "

" What! "

" Are we going to just stand here and watch? "

Ino said nothing but continued to watch earnestly for what Sakura will do. Shikamaru just sighed and muttered something under his breath while looking at their other teammate munching away on his precious chips.

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Sakura carefully sized up her opponents, knowing full well she wouldn't have a chance in 3 on 1 battle but she was determined to protect the still unconscious Sasuke. '_ If only Naruto was here... ' _ she thought. The sound girl was getting impatient standing there so told her to teammates to get this over with. The guy with bandages around his head just said it was too troublesome for him to fight a weakling. The other guy just sneered and advanced towards Sakura.

" I'm going to enjoy killing the two of you. " he said as fixed his sleeves to expose his hands. Sakura realized that if she stayed there Sasuke would be hit too but if she left him there, the other two might take advantage of it. However the other two Sound-nins appeared to be content on watching their other teammate finish her off first.

_' I have to make a gamble ' _ she jumped leapt away from Sasuke's spot and threw a few kunais at her opponent

" USELESS! ZANKUHAA! " Sakura was shocked when a blast of wind threw her kunai off target. She threw another bunch at him but was also blown away.

" Your toys are useless against me. Don't tire yourself. " he said as he positioned both of his palms facing towards her.

" ZANKUUKYOKUHA! " Sakura put her arms in front of her to shied against the attack but felt ears wringing as the attack passed thru her. She fell to the ground clutching her head. _' What was that? '_

" As you can see that was no ordinary air blast. " he said as he slowly approached her. " The air blast has sound waves with it that interferes with your hearing which in turn messes up your brain. "

" Zaku, you're taking too long with that bitch. " the sound girl jump towards them and grabbed Sakura by her hair. " Her hair... "

" What's the matter Kin? "

" Her hair is softer than mine. " she replied as she touched her hair with her free hand. Then using her knee to kick Sakura in the back she put a kunai to the back of her neck. " If you had time to train instead of trying to be sexy, then maybe you will still be alive. "

Zaku inched closer to Sakura who was being held by Kin then punched her in the face. Sakura winced as Zaku punched her a few more times, enduring the pain she was feeling. As much as she tried to keep from crying, it wasn't long when tears started falling from her eyes. Zaku stopped his attacks and laughed.

" This Leaf gennins are so pathetic, oh well time to finish you off. " he pulled a kunai from his back and and prepared to stab Sakura. " What a waste... " He then went in for the kill. But was surprised that he couldn't move at all.

" What the... "

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Team 10 came out of their hiding place and faced the Sound gennins. From where Shikamaru stood, his shadow was extended all the way where Zaku was. The other sound who had been just watching thought.

' _ Shadow Binding no Jutsu eh? '_

" Chouji! Get that ugly face who wants to kill Sasuke-kun! " Ino screamed at the fat boy

" Eh? Do I really have to? I'm to hungry.. " Chouji said as he rubbed his stomach.

" CHOJI! YOU FAT-ASS GET HIM! "

" DAMN YOU INO! DON'T CALL ME FATASS! MEAT TANK! "

Chouji suddenly quadrupled in size and became a huge ball and began rolling towards the other Sound Nin. Dosu removed his sleeve and revealed a contraption on his arm then blew sound waves towards Choji.

The sound waves didn't affect Choji at all so he had to move aside to avoid getting hit. Meanwhile Sakura, although quite surprised by the appearance of Ino's team but recovered quickly, grabbed another kunai from her holster. Kin noticed and just laugh.

" That won't work on me bitch. "

" What makes you think I'm going to use it at you, bitch? "

To Kin's surprise Sakura used her kunai to cut her hair to where she was holding it. And after escaping her grasp, rolled away from her and threw another set then lunged straight at her kicking her in the gut. She was able to dodge the kunai but got hit by Sakura's kick and tumbled away. Ino cannot believe at what she saw.

'_ She cut her hair... '_

A sudden flood of memories flashed through her mind, the day they met, the day she gave Sakura the ribbon, the day she returned it and the day they became rivals. She was snapped out of her stupor when she saw Sakura move again, attacking the Sound nin again.

" Ino, I can't hold this jutsu any longer we have to end this now. "

Ino nodded at Shikamaru and looked at where Choji was fighting the other Sound nin, he was sprawled on the ground from exhaustion. Zaku can already move again and aimed another air blast at Sakura sending her sprawling to the ground where Kin immediately took advantage and began hitting her.

" Shikamaru, watch my body while I'm gone. " Ino then made seal " Shintenshin no jutsu! " and moment later Ino's limp body fell in Shikamaru's arms.

Sakura noticed that Kin was no longer attacking her she then looked at where Ino and Shikamaru was. He was holding Ino's body. It means that Ino is now inside Kin's mind. Kin pointed a kunai at her own neck.

" Leave now or I will kill your teammate. "

Both Sound nins look at each other and laughed. Dosu aimed a sound blast at Kin. Kin didn't dodge and was hit with the sound blast. Shikamaru noticed blood running down the edges Ino's mouth.

" What are you doing? Do you want to kill your teammate! "

" Don't joke with us. Our mission is to kill the Uchiha boy we don't care if we have to kill our teammate to do it. " Zaku moved closer to where Sakura was lying and kicked her. Sakura winced as she held her stomach, a bit short on breath. " And now you pathetic fool are going to die for interfering with us. "

" Ino! Return to your body now! "

Kin nodded at him and a second later, her body went limp and Shikamaru felt Ino's body move. Ino got up, holding her head.

" Owie.. my head hurts... "

Dosu aimed a sound blast at Ino and Shikamaru. Shikamaru grabbed Ino and dodged the sound blast. Zaku aimed both arms at Sakura.

" Now where were we? "

" Sakura... "

All heads turned to the owner of the voice. They hadn't even felt that he had awaken already. All were startled at his appearance.

'_ The cursed seal! ' _Dosu noticed that black markings on Sasuke's body. '_ What was he thinking! "_

" Sasuke-kun... " Sakura was horrified at Sasuke's appearance. He didn't look liked his normal self. He was emitting a lot of killer intent and a strange black aura surrounded him. "

" Who did this to you? "

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The wolf beside Naruto perked up it's head. Naruto noticed it and asked what's wrong.

" I can feel someone emitting evil chakra... "

" What do you mean? "

" I do not know, but your teammates may be closet than I thought. "

The white wolf got up and began walking.

" Let's go. You should be well rested by now. " and Naruto distinctly heard in his head. " There are some people following us. A lot of them. Do not show any signs that they have been detected. "

Naruto fixed himself and walked after the white wolf following it's advice. From the treetops, a team of Rain Nins talked to each other.

" Did I really saw what I saw? "

" Must be nuts, talking to a wolf. "

" Anyway, he is foolish to be alone and no wolf is going to save him. "

The three then leapt off and followed Naruto. From another spot a team of Leaf nins consisting of a pearl eyed boy, a girl with her hair tied into buns and dude in a green spandex suit watched the Mist nins and Naruto.

" Neiji, isn't that strange? " the girl asked.

" Are, there even supposed to be wolves around here? " the spandex guy added.

" I do not know, but that animal looked tame. Something is strange. We should follow them. "

The other two nodded and went off to follow Naruto and the Mist nins.

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" Ah, so you're finally awake. " Zaku turned around to Sasuke and aimed at him. " You're going to die now! Zankuhaa! "

However before he can release the air blast, Sasuke had already grabbed his arm and twisted it to his back. _' He's fast! ' _

" Is this the one who did that to you? " Sasuke asked Sakura as he increase the pressure on Zaku's arms. Team 10 was just bewildered. Sakura was terrified of this Sasuke.

' _So much power.. ' _Sasuke thought as he twisted Zaku's arm, almost dislocating it from its socket. _' I must have more! '_

Zaku attempted to hit Sasuke with his free arm but Sasuke grabbed it and twisted it too.

" Let's see how useful you are with your arms! " Sasuke pulled both arms and twisted, almost tearing them from their sockets while Zaku screamed in pain and eventually passed out. Dosu was speechless.

'_ The seal is activating! Impossible! How can he survive that? ' _

Sakura watched, horrified at what Sasuke had become. '_ This is not the Sasuke I know, What happened to him? It's that Orochimaru's fault! ' _She cringed as Zaku screamed louder begging Sasuke to stop. Sakura could no longer bare to watch it. She crept slowly to Sasuke. She can feel the huge chakra he was emitting out. She ignored her fear and grabbed Sasuke by the shirt. She cringed as Sasuke looked back at her, eyes ablaze with greed and killing intent. She gathered up the courage and stood up, hugged him from behind and pleaded to stop.

" Sasuke-kun, please stop it. I'm alright. You're scaring me.. "

Sasuke looked at the girl before her and suddenly the seal deactivated and he fell on the ground holding the the back of his neck.

" Sasuke-kun! Are you ok? "

" I'm.. alright now. " Sasuke replied as he can feel the pain slowly subsiding. He straightened up and smiled weakly at Sakura.

" Are you alright? "

" Y..Yes... " Sakura smiled back at him turning red slightly. He had never been like that to her before. They didn't notice Dosu approach them and placed a scroll on the ground.

"You are strong opponent Sasuke-kun and we can't beat you. We are retreating from this fight and as an offering, we will give you our scroll. " He then picked up his two teammates and slung them on his shoulder.

" However, if we meet again anytime during the exam. We will fight you. " He then dissappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Team 10 , who had been speechless for a while, decided it was a good time to ask questions.

" Uhm, Where's your other teammate? " Shikamaru had long noticed Naruto's presence but had been too preoccupied to ask before. Sasuke hadn't noticed until now and looked at Sakura. Sakura however only looked away and did not answer.

" Sakura, where is Naruto? " he ask himself with firmness in his voice. Sakura looked at him, tears forming around her eyes.

" I don't know. I looked for him after our fight with that Orochimaru guy, but I couldn't find him. " she said holding back tears.

" Sakura... " a female voice beside them interrupted. Sakura looked up to find Ino standing beside her.

" Don't worry, I'm sure he's fine maybe he's just lost somewhere. You'll find him soon. " Ino said as she sat beside Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder. " Right now your hair is a mess, Let me fix it or Sasuke-kun will definitely go after me. Sakura smirked at Ino but let her anyway and Ino straightened Sakura's hair the best she can with a kunai. Sasuke was surprised to see Ino's team. He looked around and saw Shikamaru poking Choji awake. The absence of Naruto bothered him. Their team had already lost a one they hadautomatically failed the test. He took the scroll the Sound nins left and saw it was and Earth Scroll. He took their scroll from his pouch. They now have two Earth scrolls. He walked over to Shikamaru and asked him what scroll they had. Shikamaru looked strangely at him before answering.

" You're not planning to fight us for our scroll aren't you? After we helped and everything. "

" No, its just that we have now two earth scrolls and we fail the exam anyway. So I think you should have this. " he handed one of the earth scrolls to Shikamaru who looked at it.

_' Well the rules say the whole team must get to the tower and since there's only two of them left... '_ He then took the scroll from Sasuke.

" If you must know we have a Heaven scroll. " Shikamaru said as he put away the scroll. " However even if you are missing a member. Continue to the tower, so you can get rest. And who knows maybe Naruto thought the same thing and is heading there. " Though he highly doubted that Naruto did. He just wanted to make them feel better. Sasuke thought the same thing and smirked ' _Yeah right as if Naruto had a brain '_

He looked over to where Sakura and Ino was and breathed deeply.

_' Naruto, you better be alive. '_

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On another part of the forest the "missing" Naruto was facing the Rain nins who had been tailing him. Kyuubi in the form of a wolf appeared nonchalant and was cleaning herself. Naruto himself was smilin widely.

This infuriated the Rain Shinobi.

" Hey brat what are you smiling about? Don't you know you're about to get killed? "

The other two laughed and went into battle stances. Naruto just laughed.

" Look into the eyes of evil. " The three Rain nins wondered what he was talking about and were stupid enough to look directly in his eyes and saw gruesome images of their own death. Naruto smiled widely as he saw his opponents freeze before him and he slowly went closer to check which one had the scroll. He grinned as he found it.

" Hmmm, we already have an Earth Scroll unless the bastard Sasuke lost it. I'll take it anyway. " he took the scroll and put it in his pouch.

"_ That was boring. "_ he heard the Kyuubi speak in his mind.

_" Well if you only you teach me more cool techniques! " _

_" Be patient I'll teach, we have a lot of time after the exam. "_

" _Hey, How come I can still hear you in my head?_ "

" _You're so dumb sometimes Naruto, telepathy is duck soup for demons. But there are still others following us" _she then began walking away. "_Deal with them if they interfere. Now let us continue. "_

Naruto nodded and followed the wolf. From their location Team 9 were awed by what they saw.

" Neiji-kun, They didn't even fight Naruto! " Tenten said with awe in her voice. " And he just took their scroll! Why didn't they fight? "

Neiji was just as bewildered, he hadn't even activated his Byakugan. So he did not see what Naruto did to his opponents. He thought maybe he used Kanashibari but there is no way a dead-last can do an Anbu-level technique. For some reason he didn't want to mess with Naruto right now.

" Yes! Another worthy opponent! Le'ts follow him and I will fight him! " the spandex dude was saying with fire in his eyes. Tenten shook her head and looked at Neiji. " What do we do now? "

" It's beneath the pride of the Hyuuga to face a lone guy. Let's search more worthy opponents. " Neiji said as leapt off. Lee and Tenten looked at each other and shrugged then went after Neiji.

Kyuubi felt the Team 9 leave and smiled to herself. Maybe humans weren't so dumb after all.

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Dan walked lazily on the streets of the city they were currently staying. The city was full of casinos, bars and stores, there was joyful mood around the city. He figured the city was a tourist spot seeing there were also a lot of people milling about. He hadn't really want to stop at the city but at Ayeka's persistence he finally relented. He had wanted to get to the Hidden Lead as soon as possible. He wondered what it was like now, years after leaving without much as word to the people he once knew. And of course he had to search for the Nine-Tails vessel. He had known that the container for Shukaku was in the Sand Village but was useless since Shukaku had messed to much with humans for any chance of release. So he had focused on Kyuubi, who was the smarter one and hoped she will help him, however he had a big doubt on that. He saw his new friends entering store selling clothes and remembered their conversation earlier, they had become sort of stiff after that and he resolved to fix that and decided to go after them

"_ Maybe I should think of staying in this world for a while. "_

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A/N: You will soon know who is this OC really is please be patient and i hope this chapter isn't that bad. As for pairings I'll work on it later, right now a lot seems to want NaruKyuu so it may be just that.

And sorry if the text appears big, for some reason it got larger when I uploaded it dunno why.


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer - all original naruto characters are not mine

A/N: Again, I wish to thank the nice people who reviewed.

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_Chapter 5_

In the middle of the Forest of Death, there stood a lone structure, standing out amidst the lush vegetation. It was known as " The Tower " to the general shinobi public and is the destination of all taking part of in the Second Test of the Chuunin Selection Exam. Inside, a team had just entered, and staring from the entrance to the dim interior. A huge hall stood before them which led to various waiting rooms.

" Heh, Looks like we're the first ones here. " a boy with a dog's head visible on his jacket said as he looked around. His other male, wearing dark glasses and also a jacket paid no attention and just carried on silently.

" It's so dark in here... " a timid girl, very distuinguished because of her pearl eyes added, bringing both her hands to her chest as she looked around. They found themselves a waiting room and sat on the benches.

" Kiba-kun... is Akamaru still shaking? " the girl asked the boy with the dog.

" Yes, but only slightly. That Sand guy must have really creeped him out. And I'm not surprised, that guy could have killed us then. Shino, do you think they knew we were watching? "

Shino just shrugged his shoulders and said nothing. However he was also creeped out from that Sand Shinobi. He had killed a team without breaking a sweat while his other two teammates just watched and smiled.

" Hmmmm, think we're the first ones to arrive? "

Another female voice echoed out from the hallway and Team 8 watched to see if the owner of the voice and her teammates will pass them. A few moments later, a blonde girl with her tied into four pony-tails, a boy in a black-suit with a strange thing on his back and a red-haired boy with a gourd passed by their place. All three Team 8 memberes held their breath and didn't say a word.

" Hey look, there are other already in here. " the boy in the black suit sid to his other teammates as they all looked at Team 8 as they passed through and went to another waiting room.

Team 8 let out a sigh of relief as soon as the Sand Team was gone. Kiba felt Akamaru once again started shaking in his jacket. He saw Hinata breathing very fast and even Shino was. And then he noticed he was breathing hard too. '_ I hope I'll never have to fight that guy. '_

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Naruto and his companion were currenty resting beside a creek. Naruto was cooking a few small fishes he caught. Kyuubi had taken her human form and was wrinkling her nose at the fishes.

" Are you sure those things are edible? " she pointed to one that was closely burnt to a crisp.

" Awww..I like them crispy! " Naruto replied pouting. " Don't you think, it's kinda dangerous for you to be in in that form? I mean what if somebody sees you? " he then took one of the fishes at the fire and began munching on it. He took another one and handed it to Kyuubi. " Any why can't ramen grow in the forest too? "

Kyuubi smiled at Naruto and took the fish he gave and gave it a few test bites. '_ Ok..it is edible. '_

" Don't worry Naruto-chan, I can feel anyone sneaking up on us. But am I that ugly you don't want anyone to see me hence they think ' Eww is that Naruto's girlfriend? ugh, look at that face!' "

" No..no, Kyuubi-chan, it's just you are barely wearing anything hehehe... " Naruto replied as he scratched the back of his head

" Ooohhhh, Naruto-chan called me Kyuubi-chan! I'm so touched! "

"_ Is this really the demon who almost destroyed Konoha? Sheesh... " _

" By the way, the moment we get out of this place you call a forest, you're buying me some nice clothes. "

"O..Okay... " he wondered if he had any money left at home he had spent it all at food before the exam. Kyuubi continued talking.

" We've got some time left, you say this is the fourth day so we have a few hours to train. " Kyuubi then stood up and walked around.

" Rest now, I'll teach you some jutsu later. "

Naruto's eyes lit up immdiately.

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Meanwhile, the other two Team 7 members were also taking a break. Sasuke was sitting with his back on a rock while Sakura sat close to him. The two haven't said a word to each other the whole time they were together. Sakura had always dreamed of this moment, they were alone together in a secluded spot in the forest, anything can happen between them it would have been quite romantic if not for the fact that the forest is full of dangerous creatures and god-knows-what else. And there was the other fact that they were together because their other teammate might have been eaten by a wild animal and might be dead for all they knew. Sasuke was however getting very conscious of Sakura as he'd never been alone with her nor with any other girl for the reason. He was also thinking what had happened to their obnoxious teammate he had always hated his presence because he always spoke a few notches above normal volume and complained about anything. He now missed the idiot's incessant rambling. He glanced sideways at Sakura and noticed she looked a bit sad.

" Sasuke-kun... "

" Yes, Sakura? "

" I'm.. " Sasuke saw Sakura hesistate and told her to continue.

" I'm sorry... "

" Sorry for what? "

" It's my fault we fail the exam and Naruto's death... If only I were a little more stronger... I could have save Naruto from Orochimaru...I... " Sasuke put a finger on Sakura's lips.

" It's not your fault Sakura, don't blame yourself and don't give up so easily like that. " he scooted closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

" Naruto won't give up like that, he's alive here somewhere probably looking for us. " he hesitated to say what he was going to say next but then thought this was the right time " And... I'm sorry if I treated you badly in the past. "

Sakura stared at Sasuke, hesistating to believe what he just said. It wasn't exactly a confession of everlasting love as she had always dreamed but it was close enough. She put her head on Sasuke's shoulder and looked into his eyes. Sasuke was also surprised by her actions deciding to drop the solid-block-of-ice attitude and put an arm around Sakura. Both then closed their eyes and laid back on each other, wallowing on each other's arms.

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Naruto collapsed on the ground panting, Kyuubi walked up to him and leaned over his head.

" Naruto-chan, considering that I just thought you those jutsu's a few hours ago. You're doing quite well. I'm so glad... "

Naruto grinned at her and made a thumbs-up sign.

" Heh, I'm the best! " Kyuubi smiled back at him. He can just do weaker versions of the jutsu's she taught him but she was confident that at his level, few others can do them as they require large amounts of chakra to do. " Teach me more! " Naruto jumped, as if he wasn't tired at all, looking eagerly at Kyuubi.

" No Naruto, that's enough for now. You must rest now, tomorrow is the last day of the exam as you say you still have to be with your teammates or you fail even if you do have one of each scroll. "

" But how will I find them? This place is too big too search. "

" I see your brain needs some work too Naruto-chan. We'll work on that later. " she ignored Naruto scowling at her and continued speaking. " The best plan right now is to wait by in the vicinity of the tower and if they were smart enough they would have thought of the same idea and will proceed to the tower also. "

Naruto listened intently and nodded his agreement. He was sure Sakura will have thought of it and she is the smartest gennin in their batch.

" And then there's the problem they may be ambushed on their way so all we have to do is hope for the best. " Kyuubi added. Naruto then grudgingly thought that Sasuke is strong enough and he has the sharingan anyway so they'll probably have few problems dispatching a few nins. Unless they encountered another Orochimaru. Now he was starting to worry. Kyuubi sensed it and comforted him.

" Don't worry Naruto-chan, " she brought her face closer to Naruto and kissed him on the cheek. " They'll be fine. " Naruto blushed slightly.

" A..are you sure? "

" Of course, after all I'm the second most powerful demon in the world. "

Naruto was too flushed by getting kissed by a girl and didn't notice her say " second most ".

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Sasuke carefully scanned the area ahead, the tower can already be seen from their position and he estimated that they'll arrive there in a couple of hours. He glanced at Sakura who was beside him and also scanning the environment and, he knew, for their lost teammate. They had already agreed the best action was to go to the tower and hope Naruto also thought the same thing. If not, the two of them can always take it next year however, they had to accept the fact then that their blonde teammate was also forever lost. Sasuke glanced at Sakura who nodded back in return and went off to the treetops.

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Naruto was hiding near a wall, using the old hide-behind-a-cloth-that-resembles-the-background-trick and was really surprised that no one has detected him yet. His arms were also getting very tired and his nose was getting really itchy. A kitten sat above his head, cleaning itself. This was the dread Nine-Tails in another form and she was hiding both their chakra so they won't be detected.

_" Be patient Naruto-chan, there's still a lot of time. "_

_" Arrrgghh! Why don't we swtich places! And why do we have to hide here! Why can't we just hide behind some trees or something! "_

_" Because this is really sneaky! "_

Naruto mentally screamed in his head but stopped short when to his delight, he saw the very two persons he had so wanted to see and an evil plot formed in his mind.

_" See what I mean? There they are already. Listen, I know a really sneaky prank... "_

_" I know Kyuubi-chan, I know... "_

Both smiled an evil smile as they waited for the two persons to get closer.

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Sakura and Sasuke cautiously approached the tower, wary of traps and possible ambush. Both then dashed quickly to the entrance and only stopped when they close to the door where they stopped to catch their breaths. Both were relieved they had made it without having to fight. Now the issue of their missing teammate resurfaced.

" Sasuke-kun? What about Naruto? What do we do now? "

Sasuke thought about the possibilites. Naruto may already be inside or he may be making his way here or he might be dead already. He refused to think about the last one.

" I think we should see inside if he's here, if not we'll wait for him outside. "

" But Sasuke-kun, we only have one scroll... "

" It doesn't matter now Sakura, as long as the three of us are alright we can always try next year, that's all that matters right now. "

Sakura smiled as they both prepared to go inside. Sakura and Sasukewas just about to touch the big double doors when suddenly a face came out of the wall and screamed loudly at them.

" AAIIEEE! "

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An old man sat behind a desk poring over some records. He pulled out two dossiers and took a good look at it. It was the record of Uchiha Itachi, probably one of the best Konoha had ever produced. He read the entries and can't help but feel proud. Graduated from the Academy at age 6, promoted to jounin at age 10 and was recruited to the Anbu and eventually became squad captain at age 13. It also mentioned he mastered the Mangekyou at the age of 8. Sarutobi can't help but regret that Itachi went over to the dark side, killed his own clan and betrayed his village he can only imagine what he may have become have he stayed. He placed down Itachi's dossier and read the other one. On this one, all he felt was awe while reading it. Graduated from the academy at age 5, promoted to chuunin few months later and became jounin on his 7th birthday and recruited to the Anbu at 10. He wondered where this particular shinobi was now and felt a feeling of nostalgia similar to when his three former gennin students left. He cann't help thinking if he somehow was the reason why all his students leave their village. He heard a knock on his door and he bade the person to enter. An Anbu member came in and reminded that the Second Exam was almost over and that he himself should head to the the location of the Third Exam. Sarutobi sighed, put the documents on his table and and then left.

On the top of the last document the Hokage read was the name " Kazama, Dan "

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Sakura and Sasuke stared at the the boy who was laughing his ass off in front of them. Both cannot really believe that it was really him. Sakura rushed over to him and hugged him.

" Naruto! You're alive! "

Sasuke can't help but smile seeing Naruto was fine. However he somehow felt weird seeing Sakura hug Naruto.

" Ah...Sakura-chan you can let go now. "

" Oh...right... " Sakura released Naruto turning red a little. Sasuke gently conked Naruto on the head.

" Hey dobe, where have you been all these time. " adding in his signature smirk.

" None of your business teme. And why would you care? "

" Now don't be like that Naruto we really want to know! Come on tell us! " Sakura nagged.

" I don't really want to talk about it... " Naruto replied looking away.

Sakura and Sasuke thought he must have been to hell and back and decided not to bother him anymore about that.

" That's ok Naruto as long as you're alright, we can always take the Chuunin Exam next year... " Sakura said looking at the ground. Sasuke also looked away from them.

" Next year? Why wait next year when we've alreay passed the second part already? "

" In case you forgot dobe, we need both Heaven and Earth scroll to pass th... "

Sasuke eyed the two scrolls Naruto took out of his pouch. He also noticed that both were Heaven scrolls. Sakura was also surprised.

" Naruto...where did you get them? " both stared at him waiting for his answer.

" Remember the time before that creepy guy attacked us? " Sakura and Sasuke both nodded.

" Well I acutally was obtaining this scroll. And this one... " he motioned to the other Heaven scroll. " Well...I uh, found it in lying around! "

Sakura and Sasuke decided not to inquire anymore about the scrolls but just be happy that they have passed the second test.

" Well what are we doing here? Let's go kick some butt! " Naruto stood up threw his fist to the air. Sakura and Sasuke smiled and finally entered the building. Naruto waited for a moment and then pick up Kyuubi in kitten form who had been curiously watching them. Sakura called Naruto telling him to hurry up.

" Alright Sakura-chan! " He then looked at the kitty then went off after Sakura and Sasuke.

_" See? What did I tell you? Aint I smart? "_

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_

After the teams that have made it to the tower have all opened their respective scrolls and being greeted by their jounin teachers having been told the nature of the third exam, they all stood inside a great hall with a statue of a hand in a ram seal. The Hokage along with the examiners and the teachers of the teams present stood in front of them. The Hokage saw that the rooke nine has passed and also the team from the Sand and he noticed that the best team from last year's batch also passed along with another Leaf team and the Sound team. He cleared his throat and began speaking.

" To the gennin teams currently present in this room, I wish to congratulate you all for passing the Second Test of the Chuunin Selection Exam. We will now begin the Third and Last Test but first... " he then went on to explain the other nature of the chuunin exam before finally introducing the examiner for the third test. The examiner went in front and put up a coughing fit before speaking.

" I am Gekyou Hayate, the examiner for this exam. Before we begin does anyone want to withdraw from the third test? "

A grey haired gennin with glasses raised his hand.

" Yakushi Kabuto has withdrawn from the final test. You may now leave.Anyone else? " Everyone stared at the departing gennin but no one else raised a hand

" We now continue. Due to the fact that too may passed the the second test we're going to have a prelims match for the third test. And now that one has withdrawn we now have an even number of participants"

There were a few murmurs from the gennins about this. Some complained that they just been through hell and need a rest.

" Such is the life of a shinobi, get used to it. Now to determine who will be fighting who, please look at the screen to your left. " as he spoke a part of the wall withdrew to reveal a big screen that showed two random names. The screen jumbled the names while the gennins held their breath waiting if their names would come up. The screen finally came to a halt showing first match.

" Haruno Sakura vs. Kin Tsu-chi "

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	7. Chapter 6

Disclaimer - all original naruto characters are not mine.

A/N: Again, I wish to thank the nice people who reviewed.

**Some of you have noticed in the previous chapter that Itachi mastered Mangekyou at 8, I made a mistake it was supposed to be sharingan I had a lot of things going on my head when i wrote that and again i apologize for the error**.

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_Chapter 6_

Sakura swallowed hard upon seeing the result for the first match-up. Her hands became sweaty all of a sudden.

" The first match-up will be Haruno Sakura against Kin Tsuchi. May I request the others to clear the arena so we can begin the match. " Hayate announced and the rest of the gennins climbed the stairs to a balcony around the arena. Sasuke approached her and said good luck and smiled. Sakura smiled back although she was scared as hell. She saw Kin standing a few yards in front of her and smirking at her.

" Your boyfriend is not here to save you this time bitch. "

Ino's ears perked up when she heard that and threw a nasty stare at Sakura. " _That girl? and Sasuke-kun! NO WAY! " _

" He's not my boyfriend. " Sakura replied with firmness in her voice and then added to herself, "_ yet.. "_

Hayate motioned for the two kunoichi to step closer he then signalled for the match to begun.

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The moment Hayate signalled for the match to start, both kunoichis leapt backwards. Sakura threw a few shuriken at Kin who deflected them with shurikens. The moment Sakura landed, she began running sidewards throwing more kunai. Kin dodged them and pulled out three kunai of her own. Sakura created three bunshins and ran towards Kin.

" I won't be defeated by such a mediocre jutsu. Take this! " She threw the kunais she was holding towards Sakura who used shurikens to deflect them away. _" Damn! "_ Kin jumped backward again. Sakura however, had gotten too close she threw a punch towards Kin who blocked it and retaliated with a kick, however it went through Sakura who promptly vanished in poof. " A Clone! " This time the real Sakura hit her squarely on the side of her head knocking her away. The other Sakura clone vanished immediately. Kin stood up, rubbing her jaw.

" Hmm..not bad guess I'll have to stop playing around. "

Up in the stands, Kakashi felt somewhat satisfied by the show Sakura was putting on. Sasuke had a poker face but was actually impressed he was slightly worried since the Sound nin didn't appear to be a push-over. And Naruto was yelling his head off, cheering Sakura. It was then that Sasuke noticed the kitten's head sticking through Naruto's jumpsuit. However, he saw the Sound girl take out kunais with things attached to their handles and decided to question Naruto later._  
_

Sakura noticed the batch of kunai Kin took from her pouch had something attached to the ring in the handle. Kin charged towards Sakura, revealing four kunai in each hand with the strange thigs attached to it. Sakura braced herself, falling into a defensive stance preparing to dodge. The moment Kin got close enough, she lashed out a kick towards Sakura, who dodged it by doing a backflip. '_ Perfect... '_ Kin said to herself.

While Sakura was still in the air, Kin threw all the kunai she was holding. Most of the spectators was certain she would be hit and so did Sakura. Only when her feet was on the ground did she noticed that the kunai hit the wall and the floor behind her. She smirked and taunted Kin.

" What's the matter? Lost your aim? "

Kin smirked back at her and then Sakura saw the thin strings going from Kin's hands she followed the strings path and noticed they were connected to the kunai. She then noticed that the strange things she saw earlier were infact miniature bells, the type that looked like those put around the neck of pet animals. _' What the hell? ' _ Sakura said to herself. Kin moved her fingers a bit and Sakura suddenly felt very dizzy. She closed her eyes for a moment then opened them again This time Kin seemed to hve multiplied, there were at least a hundred Kins surrounding her. _' What's happening to me! '_

" In case you're wondering, those bells aren't for show. I can control them to make you see any illusion i want. It's over now bitch. "

The hundred Kins suddenly took a shuriken with their free hand. And threw it towards Sakura. Sakura tried to dodged it but got confused to which one was real as a hundred shurikens came flying at her. She jumped to one side but the shuriken grazed her right thigh.

" Hmmm...You dodged that eh? Try dodging this! " This time Kin threw five shurikens at Sakura who saw a thousand flying at her. Her mind shut down in her panic and she put her arms to her face in a frantic attempt to protect herself. All five shurikens hit her with three embedded in her arms and right leg, near where first wound. She winced at the pain and collapsed to the ground. Kin laughed out loud telling her to give up now or die.

Ino was horrified when she saw Sakura get hit directly with the shurikens and wondered aloud, with worry , why she just stood there. Her team's instructor, Asuma explained that Kin was using the bells to create an illusion to confuse Sakura. Ino looked backed at the battle as she watched Sakura, straining herself to stand-up. She hoped to herself that Sakura just give so she wouldn't get hurt any longer but she knew Sakura will never give up. She yelled at Sakura, cheering her on.. Shikamaru took a deep breath and said to himself. ' Girls... '

Sakura was trying really hard to stand up, the pain in her leg was increasing with every movement she made. Though she was feeling a world of pain she figured out that Kin must be somewhere in front of since she can still see the strings connecting the bells to her hands. Her train of thought was broken by Ino yelling out a " GO FOREHEAD GIRL KICK HER BUTT! "

'_ Damn you Ino-pig! I'll get you! ' _she said to herself smiling then focusing back to the match she noticed the strings and then it struck her why and berated herself for not figuring it out earlier. She stood up, removing the shurikens embedded in her leg and arms then took out a kunai then began charging towards Kin, using the strings as a guide to her location. Kin was a bit startled seeing Sakura going straight for.

" What the... " she threw more shuriken towards Sakura who didn't dodged and got hit directly. Sh smiled in satisfaction but then Sakura vanished, replaced by stump of wood. A moment later, Sakura re-appeared in front of her. _' Kawarimi!. ' _Sakura hit her squarely to the side of her face, distorting her facial expression and was sent flying backwards landing in a rolling heap on the floor. She was about to throw her kunai at Kin but then noticed she wasn't getting up.

Naruto let out a low moan when Sakura punched Kin in the face. '_ That has got to hurt..Sakura might not look like it but she packs a mean punch! '_ he said to himself having been on the receiving end of that fist on numerous occasion. Others were also talking about themselves about it.

Genma motioned for Sakura to stop as he went to check Kin. Seeing she was unconscious, he raised his hand and declared the winner.

" The winner of this match is Haruno Sakura. "

A few cheers could be heard, the most noticable one was from the loudmouth Naruto. A few medics approached Sakura to check on her wounds while two placed Kin in a stretcher. Sakura heard one of them muttering to himself something about scary girls who pack a mean punch and she couldn't help being amazed where she got that strength. One of the medics used a healing jutsu on her deep wounds and then covered the minor ones with bandages. Sakura was amazed at what the healing jutsu can do. There was no trace of a wound, not even a faint scar she then heard the medic say something to her but she was pre-occupied so the medic repeated his statement a little bit louder.

" You're alright now, you can watch the rest of the matches or would you rather rest in the infirmary? "

" Ah..I feel fine now thanks. I think I'll stay here and watch... "

The medics nodded and then left the arena. Sakura then climed to the balcony and approached her team. Naruto instanly approached her and began yelling at her.

" THAT WAS GREAT SAKURA-CHAN YOU TOTALLY WHOOPED HER ASS! "

"Aww...Shut up Naruto... " she said smiling weakly at his antics. She went beside Sasuke.

" You did pretty well out there. " Sasuke said smiling his cool smile at her.

" Re..really? Th..thanks... " Sakura squeaked as she turned red slightly.

" Sakura-chan? " she looked beside her to see her other teammate with a curious look in his eyes and she thought she was seeing this or was there a kitten's head protruding form his jumpsuit?

" What...is..it...Naruto? " she took a closer look and rubbed her eyes to see if it was really a kitten. " And why the heck you have a kitten on you! "

Sasuke overheard and butted in.

" Yeah dobe where did you get that kitten? "

" Oh this... " he took out the kitten then brought it closer to Sakura and Sasuke. " This is Kyuu-chan i found her in the forest. Say Hello to Sasuke-teme and Sakura-chan, Kyuu-chan! "

The kitten meowed at Sakura and Sasuke. Sakura thought it was really cute but Sasuke wasn't so sure about it.

" Idiot, how are sure that it's really a cat? "

_' Well I'm not! ' _Naruto said to himself then said aloud. " Awww...don't be so cruel on Kyuu-chan Sasuke-teme, its just a poor little kitty alone in a big dark forest, isn't that right Kyuu-chan? " he then rubbed the kitten on his face and stroke it's fur.

" Aww..Sasuke-kun, dont be like that it's so cute! "

" Hmph "

Sasuke noticed that the screen had already showed the next match-up. Hayate threw another coughing fit before announcing the next match.

" The next match will be Aburame Shino vs. Akadou Yoroi. Please come to the arena. "

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The next two matches were pretty quick. Shino used his bugs and avoided close combat with Yoroi who's main jutsu seemed to be a chakra absorbing technique. In the end Shino's bugs had sucked away most of Yoroi's chakra and he was declared the winner. The next one was shikamu against Misumi. Misumi used a body stretching technique, making your bones soft so you can twist your body or make it longer. His neck and arms become longer as they snaked towards Shikamru who only stood there with an evil grin in his face. When Misumi's head was only a few inches from Shikamaru, he felt that he can't move. He then noticed that Shikamaru's shadow was extended towards his Shikamaru then began nodding his head. A few of the spectators covered their mouths as Misumi's head repeatedly bounced of the floor. Hayate motioned for Shikamaru to stop and declared him the winner. The screen flashed again and this time Sasuke felt some excitement. The screen read: Uchiha Sasuke vs Rock Lee

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Hayate announced the next match-up and requested the participants to go down to the arena. Lee leapt from the balcony to the arena while Sasuke took his time and used the stairs to do down the arena. Lee was getting really impatient but resisted the impulse to yell at Sasuke and proclaim his burning desire to beat him and win over Sakura and instead stared intently at Sasuke as he slowly made his way to the arena. Hayate didn't waste time, the moment Sasuke and Lee stood facing each other, he signalled for the match to begin.

Lee and Sasuke stood thre eyeballing each other, waiting for one to strike first, Lee in his usual stance one hand in front palm facing towards him and Sasuke with his hands in his pockets and trying too look very cool whick made Sakura and Ino drool a little but was really feeling pain as the seal Orochimaru made was acting up again. Lee made a motion with his hand as if to say " Come and get me ." Sasuke smirked, and made handseals.

" Katon, Goukakyuu no Jutsu! "

A large burst of flame engulfed Lee, and drew some oohs and aahs from spectators. Sasuke looked to see if his attack did any damage but was not surprised when he didn't see Lee from his previous position. He knew Lee was too smart to be caught like that. He looked up and saw Lee about to drop a kick on him. He back-flipped away and making Lee hit the floor instead. He was just getting back on his feet when Lee suddenly went on the offensive again. ' _He's too quick! ' _Sasuke said to himself as Lee's kick connected to his gut. Sasuke flew a few yards away, but controlled his body and landed on his feet.

_' Damn he's faster than I thought... ' _ Sasuke thought and then decided to activate his Sharingan and instantly a wave of pain went through his boy and he dropped to his knees holding his neck. Unlucky for him, Lee paid no heed and continued attacking.

" Konoha Reppuu! " Lee dropped down on one leg and hit Sasuke to his face, sending him flying to the wall. Everyone gasped as the wall cracked underneath Sasuke. The Hokage and a few of the more observant persons in the room saw distinct black markings start to appear on Sasuke's body._ ' Hm, So Orochimaru was after him after all. I wonder if he can fight the seal's effects. '_

Sakura had also saw the markings and images of Sasuke covered in strange seals and oozing with evil aura flashed before her and it worried her that he might lose his mind again this time. " SASUKE-KUN! " she yelled out loud drawing some looks to her but she didn't care, she didn't want to see the "other" Sasuke again.

Sakura's outburst echoed in Sasuke's ears. His willpower started to overpower the effect of the seal. '_ Sakura... '_ Slowly the black markings started disapearring. " I will win with my own power! " he said aloud forming a few handseals.

" Katon, Ryuuka no Jutsu! "

A stream of fire sped towards Lee who dodged it but saw a large shuriken flying towards him.

" AAHH! What the... " he muttered as he ducked, the shuriken went past him.He saw Sasuke doing another set of handseals.

" Katon Housenka! "

This time, several fireballs came flying at Lee who jumped upwards to avoid it. He landed back on his feet to see Sasuke breathing heavily.

" Ah..it seems you have already exhausted you chakra Sasuke! It's now time for me to attack! " he said as he began running towards Sasuke. " Konoha Dai Senpuu! " he said as he threw a spinning kick towards Sasuke. Sasuke smirked at him as he blocked it and threw in a punch of his own. Lee was surprised as he fell back, impressed that Sasuke had blocked his attack and hit him.

" Sasuke-kun! You're a worthy rival! I will not hold back! " Lee began charging at Sasuke again and this time Sasuke also charged as the two traded blows back and forth. The spectators was amazed by the taijitsu show the two were putting on. The Hokage took a puff from his smoking pipe and smiled to himself. _' Impressive, he fought off the effect's of Orochimaru's seal and he's impressive in taijitsu too. '_

Sasuke had activated his sharingan and was able to keep up with Lee's speed because of it. However, his chakra was also burning at a faster rate so he knew he had to end it quickly. He feinted with his right fist satisfied when Lee took the bait and appeared to blocked it then his left fist connected to the side of Lee's head sending him backwards a little before he could recover, Sasuke kicked upwards to the chin then used Kawarimi to appear above Lee who was to dazed by consecutive hits to the head and wasn't able to recover quickly.

" Shishi Rendan! " Sasuke then began striking Lee, knocking him towards the ground mostly by using kicks. Lee took every hit and crashed to the ground as Sasuke made one last strike to his chest, knocking the self-proclaimed taijitsu expert out. Hayate check Lee, found him unconscious and declared Sasuke the winner.

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Sasuke slowly went back up the balcony after getting checked by medics. He saw Sakura eagerly waiting and Naruto with a frown on his face. He ignored Naruto's look and approached Sakura.

" Sasuke-kun... " the two looked at each other before Sasuke sat down, with his back to the wall. " Sasuke-kun! Are you alright? " Sasuke smiled back at Sakura. " I'm fine. i'm just tired. That's all, don't worry about me. "

" Hmm...Sasuke-teme you seem awfully talkative today... " Naruto interrupted, narrowing his eyes at Sasuke.

Sakura hit Naruto on the head. " Shut up Naruto, Sasuke-kun just had a gruelling match you could at least congratulate him on winning idiot! "

Naruto rubbed his head a little. " Hmph, You'll see I'll win and you won't even see what I'll do! HA! "

" As if you would win... " Sakura replied raising an eyebrow.

" You'll see Sakura-chan. Or maybe not... "

" Hello everyone! "

" Kakashi-sensei! " Naruto and Sakura both yelled out.

" I'm sorry to interrupt your festivities, but I'll have to take Sasuke. And congratulations on you two for winning your matches. " Sakura beamed and stuck out her tonuge at Naruto. Naruto just "hmphed"

" Let's go Sasuke. Oh and make sure you win Naruto or Sasuke will never let you forget about it. " Kakashi said as he took Sasuke away.

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The next match-up was Temari against Hinata. Hinata was pretty impressive with the Hyuuga-style Taijitsu but Temari was smart and kept her distance, sending waves of kamaitachis towards Hinata in the end, Hinata was caught in one of the whirlwinds and Temari was declared the winner. The next was Tenten against Zaku. From the start of the match, it was obvious already who would win. Zaku just blew away the weapons Tenten threw at him. Tenten provided some eye-candy in the match , taking out two scolls then leapt into the air as smoke dragons came out of the scrolls. She did a few pirouettes as the scrolls circled around her and countless throwing weapons came out of the scrolls. Tenten directed them, using chakra stringst to attack Zaku. The attack was useless as Zaku just blew them away with a Zankuuha and he was declared the winner later. Everyone awaited the next match-up to appear on the screen and when it appeared almost everyone knew it would be murder and felt sorry for a certain blonde ninja.

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Ino almost fainted when she saw the next match-up appear on the screen. Choji had stopped stuffing his mouth with potato chips and Shimaru had a worried look in his face.

" Ino... I think you should just forfeit at once. "

If Sakura hadn't shown some flair in her match and lost, she would have forfeited immediately. But she didn't want to appear weaker than Sakura.

" No! I will fight him! Sakura won so I must win too! "

_' Sheesh, she's so stubborn. '_ Shikamaru said to himself. " But Ino, It will take a miracle for you to win. "

" No! I will win! " Ino replied as she went down to the arena.

The screen read: Yamanaka Ino vs. Hyuuga Neji

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Neji watched as Ino descended to the arena. He smirked to himself. He knew his opponent was really pathetic and he'd end it quickly. Somehow he was dissapointed when he wasn't matched against Hinata. Ino slowly approached to where he was standing and had a serious look in her face. Neji was the number one rookie of last year's batch and could be as strong as Sasuke. Hayate looked at both gennins and motioned for the match to begin.

Neji stood there smirking at Ino. " I'm going to end this quickly for your sake.

Ino was staring to get irritated by Neji's attitude. " Who do you think you are? I don't go down that easy! "

" We will see about that... " Neji immediately got into the stance of the Hyuuga Style Taijitsu. Ino felt uneasy and went into a defensive stance.

" Pathetic, you have absolutely no chance of winning against me. "

" You're all talk! Why don't you show me what you got! " Ino shot back.

Neji smirked at her. " Quite brave aren't? Time to end this! Byakugan! " The nerves around Neji's eyes swelled as he started attacking Ino who put her arms in front in an attempt to block his attacks. She was however surprised that every hit of Neji seem to be very painful, even though she knew she blocked some but she was falling back, as Neji's attacks became faster. Neji sent one last hit to her chest, sending her flying backward. Blood flowed on the edges of Ino's mouth and she was breathing hard and appeared very weak. Hayate stopped Neji from attacking any further and checked on Ino. He declared Neji the winner as medics checked on Ino.

From the moment the match-up was announced, Sakura knew that Ino would have no chance whatsoevr. But she knew Ino would never backdown. Seeing Ino in her current condition, made Sakura wish that Ino shold have just forfeited. She immediately jumped from the balcony and went towards Ino. She heard a medic say that Ino's breathing was irregular and her pulse is weak. She also saw Ino's sensei there and heard him mention that Neji messed her inner coils real bad. Sakura stared holding both her hands to her chest as the medics took Ino away on a stretcher

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The next match-up was Gaara against Dosu Kinuta. The match was pretty quick as Gaara used his sand to squeeze Dosu and would have killed him if his sensei hadn't yelled at him to stop. Hayate later declared him the winner. The moment Choji saw his name appear on the screen he immediately forfeited. Hayate had no choice but to declace who would have been his opponent, Kankuro, the winner. Then saying there were only two people left, he told them to go down to the arena to begin the last match of the prelims.

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Sasuke and Kakashi had just returned to see the end of the last match. Sakura noticed that didn't look different but was glad that he was back anyway. She then turned her attention to her other teammate.

Naruto yelled, saying that it was finally his turn and he would show Sasuke-teme cooler techniques. Sakura just hit him on the head again and told him to go down already. Naruto rubbed his head again then took out the kitten in his jumpsuit.

" Hey, Sakura-chan, can you hold Kyuu-chan for me? "

Sakura's eyes lit up as she took the kitten from Naruto. " Oooohhhhh, so kawaii! "

" Thanks Sakura-chan! Be a good kitty now Kyuu-chan! " Naruto said as he jumped down the balcony to face his opponent.

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Kiba was very excited. His opponent was Uzumaki Naruto, the dumbest student in their class. So he was certain the he would win.

" Alrgiht Akamaru, we'll just breeze to this one! "

Naruto and Kiba slowly faced each other and began taunting each other.

" Tsk, I'm so lucky I'm fighting you Naruto. "

" Hey dog-boy? Did you take a bath? I can smell you from a mile away! "

Hayate then signalled for the match to begin.

" I won't be needing you now Akamaru, This one's going to be easy. "

Naruto smirked then jumped backwards a and formed a set of handseals.

Kyuubi, who was in Sakura's arms watched intently as Naruto did the handseals. She was certain he will win. But he also told him not to show off too much.

Finishing the handseals, Naruto softly said " Ninpou, Kokuangyou no Jutsu! "

" Hey! Who turned off the lights! " Kiba yelled out. A few gennins laughed thinking he's gotten crazy. But a few of the adults in the room recongnized the genjutsu.

" It can't be! " Kakashi revealed his sharingan and studied Kiba.

" What is it Kakashi sensei? " Sakura said holding back her laughter.

" That genjutsu that Naruto is using... "

" That idiot knows genjutsu? " Sasuke interrupted.

" It's a high level technique. Its engulfs the your opponent in total darkness as if they were blind. "

" Eh! That idiot knows that much! " Sakura said, she then looked back towards Naruto who was doing another set of handseals.

" I wonder what he's doing now... "

Naruto laughed when he heard Kiba say who turned off the lights.

" Hehe! Hey dogboy! Can't see anything now don't you? Don't worry I'll end this now! " he said as he performed another set of handseals.

" Suiton, Suiryudan no Jutsu! " A pillar of water about a meter in diameter rose out of nowhere and formed in to the form of a dragon and rushed towards Kiba, who was blind as a bat and struck him head on and slammed him into the wall and knocked him out. Almost everyone's jaws dropped when they saw what Naruto did and had a " How the hell did he do that! "

" Kakashi-sensei... Did you teach Naruto that water jutsu? " Sakura asked.

" Why didn't you teach it to us too? " Sasuke added.

" I did not, and even if I did you would'nt have enough chakra to do that. "

" But Naruto just did it and there's not even a drop of water in here! " Sasuke replied.

" I don't know. "

Sasuke and Sakura looked hard at their sensei. Satisfied he was telling the truth, the two of them decided to question Naruto later.

Hayate had recovered from his shock now and declared Naruto the winner.

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Hayate had now ordered the winners to line up in the arena to decide the match-ups for the Final Round of the Third Test. Naruto stood between Sasuke and Sakura with the kitten on his head. Sasuke and Sakura had bugged him on how knew the techniques he used aganst Kiba and Naruto just laughed out loud and said Kyuu-chan taught him which was the truth but of course, they didn't believe him until they just got tired of asking and let it go for now. Hayate approached them holding a box. He asked them to each pick a number from the box.

" The people with the same numbers will be the ones matched up. Now please tell me what number you have picked. "

" I got 1 " Naruto yelled. Neji's eyes lit up. '_ This is going to be interesting... '_

The match-ups was sorted out and everyone took a look at it

**1st match: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji**

**2nd match: Gaara vs. Uchiha Sasuke**

**3rd match: Haruno Sakura vs. Nara Shikamaru**

**4th match: Temari vs. Abumi Zaku**

**5th match: Aburame Shino vs. Kankuro**

The Hokage then went to the front and congratulated the winners of the prelims and then explained that the Finals will be held in a much larger arena in a month and that there will be a lot of important people who will be watching. He then told them to train hard and do their best for the honor of their respective villages and then dismissed them.

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" YAY! HOMESWEET HOME! " Ayeka yelled out as soon they entered the gates of Konoha. Ayako smiled at her sister's antics and looked at Dan.

" So Dan, How does it feels to be back home? "

" Hmpf... Konoha didn't changed a bit. But it still feels great to be back. I wonder if my old house still stands... "

" Where is it? " Ayeka asked. " I know! Let's go over to your place! "

" That would be cool, " Dan nodded. " But I've forgotten where it is... "

" Bummer. " Ayeka deflated.

" Hmm...Why don't you stay at our place then? " Ayako offered

" No kidding? "

Ayako nodded.

"Hmm..Let me think, YES! "

" Yay! Let's have a party at our house! " Ayeka yelled

" Uh..Ayako... "

" Yes? "

" You did say you work in the Kage Tower didn't you? "

" I'm the one in charge of keeping important document in order, why do you ask? "

" I think that maybe you have access to some files. I'm looking for a person, a boy by the name of Uzumaki Naruto "

" Hmm...I don't think that would be a problem but I have to ask Hokage-sama first. "

" Oh, don't worry he won't mind... "

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A/N: I'm sorry if the chapter feels rushed. I have to do a school project but i wanted to finish this first. Don't worry next chapters will be better!


	8. Chapter 7

Disclaimer – All original Naruto characters are not mine.

* * *

A/N: Again, I wish to thank the nice people who reviewed and flamed. Sorry for my long hiatus and I have no intention of re-writing the previous chapter. Doing so would ruin the plot I already had in mind already. 

"Give me more! "

A loud voice was heard in a local ramen stand as certain boy just consumed his third bowl of ramen. The girl behind the counter smiled, as she handed Naruto another bowl. She also glanced at the cute little kitten sitting atop Naruto's head, as it cleaned itself with its tongue.

"What is it Ayame nee-chan? " Naruto said between mouthfuls as he noticed Ayame staring at him.

"Oh, nothing Naruto-kun, I was just looking at your pet. " She leaned on the counter near Naruto to pet the cat. It purred slightly and rubbed it's head on Ayame's hand.

"Awww…..it's so cute! "

"What's cute? "

A male voice echoed somewhere from the kitchen. A man aged somewhere around forty came out wiping his hands on his apron.

"Naruto has a pet cat and it's so cute! "

"Teuchi - san! How're you doing? "

"Oi..Naruto it's been a while since you've been here! So, how did the Chuunin Exam go? "

"Oh, nothing I couldn't handle. I'm in the Final Round of the third test! "Naruto just finished his fourth bowl and patted his stomach.

"Good luck in the test Naruto-kun… " Ayame added, still playing with the cat on Naruto's head.

"And if you win in your match Naruto, I'll give you 5 bowls of free ramen! "

"Then I definitely have to win! You'll see! I have to go now Teuchi-san, Ayame-chan. See you! " Naruto placed some money on the counter, and then left waving.

Naruto took off, running towards his apartment.

"_Naruto –chan, I thought I told you not too show off too much. "_

Naruto heard the familiar female voice again in his head. He'd gotten used to it by now.

"_Che… I only got to to do the suiryudan since dog-boy got knocked out too fast. I wanted to do the doryuu-taiga too! "_

"_Naruto, you shouldn't reveal your trump cards too soon. And besides your sensei and teammates are getting suspicious. May I just remind you, that the jutsus I thought can't be performed by most gennins, hell even most chuunins can't so, think wisely next time okay? "_

"_Now you sound like Iruka-sensei, Kyuubi-chan…. "_

Naruto entered a three-story building, and climbed a flight of stairs.

"_Sheesh, you live in this place? What a drab… "_

Naruto put unlocked the door to his apartment and locked it behind him. The kitten leapt off his head to the floor and then turned into a 16 year old girl.

"…"

Naruto stared at the girl, or rather the hot chick in his apartment. She had shoulder length blue hair and about a foot taller than him. And she was still wearing the same robe she wore in his mind.

"Naruto-chan, I seriously need some new clothes I can't be seen outside like this and….. " she stopped when she saw Naruto staring at her.

"What? "

Naruto snapped out of his stupor just in time to hear her last question.

"What what? "

"Naruto! Will you stop staring at my chest and listen to what I say! Tomorrow you will buy me new clothes. Now where's the bedroom? "

She ignored the red-faced Naruto as she went to explore his rather cramped home. Naruto admitted the fact that from now on he had to endure living with female, childish demon who somehow still managed to look hot. He distinctly heard the sounds of the bathroom being used. He sniffed himself and thought he can use a bath too. A few minutes later both had cleaned themselves. Kyuubi sat bed drying her hair while Naruto took one of his pillows, put out the lights and then plopped on his couch. A moment later the lights came on again. And he saw Kyuubi standing over him.

"What are you doing? "

"Uh, trying to sleep? "

"In the couch? "

"Where am I supposed to sleep! "

"Duh? In the bed of course "

"With you! "

"Is there a problem with that? "

Naruto swallowed hard and felt something growing in his PJs.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

The Third was staring out his office window towards the Hokage Monument, dreading the moment when someone will bring in today's paperwork. Finally, he heard a soft knock on the door and he took a deep breath and bade the person to enter. 

"Ayako! I thought you won't be back until next week!"

"It's nice to see you again too, Hokage-sama!"

Ayako replied cheerfully as she placed the small pile of documents she was carrying on the desk. The Third sat behind the desk and started going through the documents.

"So Ayako, how was your little vacation? "

"It's not so bad Hokage-sama, we went to this place and that had a little fun, met a hot guy went places and I finally decided to go back to make sure you didn't neglect your paper work. "

The Third laughed out loud and started signing the papers and stamping his official seal on them.

"Uh, can I ask a question?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Did you ever had any student aside from the Sannins?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Uhm, it's nothing just curious… "

Sarutobi stopped what he was doing and stared into the ceiling of the office.

"Now that you mention it. I once had an apprentice, for a short while though, and he was very young back then. But even from his age I saw his potential."

He stood up and again went to the window too look across the Hokage Monument.

"If I may say he has potential to surpass even The Yondaime. Too bad he requested permission to leave just a year after he got into the ANBU. Said he was going to search for his true purpose in life. I haven't heard from him since."

Ayame saw the reminiscent look in the Hokage's eyes as if recalling days gone by.

"Ah, I'm really getting old, thinking about old days. Should get back to work."

"What's his name?" Ayame continued

"His name? Well if you must ask it's Kazama, Kazama Dan. "

"Well Hokage-sama, have I good news for you!"

"And what can that be?"

"Remember the hot guy I mentioned earlier?"

"Uhm, not really?"

"It's him."

"Him who?"

"Your student, Kazama Dan, and he's in Konoha!"

Ayame chuckled when she saw the Hokage's face, it was priceless and wished she had a camera with her.

"No kidding?"

"Alright, that's all folks. You can go home now."

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Kakashi observed his team as they sat on the ground or in Naruto's case lay on the ground as they rested from todays training. The training was nothing special, just the basic stuff. Naruto had  
complained that training basic stuff won't help him become Hokage. His two teammates smirked at him but didn't say anything.

"I'm going to see the old geezer. Maybe he'll teach me cool moves. You'll see Sasuke-teme I'll kick everyone's butt at the tournament!" With that Naruto got up and took off.

Sakura and Sasuke wondered who the "old geezer" was. It then struck Sasuke. "_So the idiot is being trained by someone else. I wonder who the old geezer is…."_

"That Naruto has totally no respect for his elders." Kakashi said aloud.

"Kakashi-sensei, who's the old geezer?" Sakura asked

"He was referring to Hokage-sama."

"Naruto is being trained by the Hokage?" Sasuke said as he got up and put his face in front of Kakashi.

"Hey! No fair! No wonder he knew the Suiryudan no Jutsu! We demand you teach us that too!" Sakura added

Kakashi put up his hands in front as he attempted to explain.

"Hey, it's not what you think. I'm sure you knew his reputation when all of you were still in the academy and he was always getting sent to the Hokage's office. And during those times he and the Hokage have sort of been friendly with each other. And besides, the Hokage is too busy too take an apprentice, although there had been an exception…. But anyway, bottom line is Hokage-sama is not teaching Naruto. Ok?"

"Ok, sensei whatever you say…" Sakura replied. Sasuke didn't say anything but appeared to believe Kakashi.

"Well, it's rather lucky that Naruto Is not here anymore. I wanted to ask you something Sasuke."

Sasuke shot and inquiring look at Kakashi.

"And what may that be?"

"The curse seal Orochimaru put on you is it bothering you?"

Sasuke suddenly began apprehensive and Sakura suddenly became worried.

"Not really, it painful only right after he put it. But it hadn't bothered me at all.

"That's strange…" Kakashi took a look at the back of Sasuke's neck. " Does it hurt when you release charka?"

"No."

"When you get excited?"

"No."

"Do you have nightmares?"

"No."

"Uhm, sensei? Is Sasuke-kun alright?" Sakura piped up

"Either the seal I placed on it is doing it's job or the seal Orochimaru used was weak. But you seem alright." Both Sakura and Sasuke were relieved when they heard that.

"But this was not the case, with someone else who got a curse seal from Orochimaru."

"Eh? There was another one?" Sakura covered her mouth with her hands in shock.

"Orochimaru attacked another team during the Second Test?"

"No, it happened some time ago. I can't tell you the details. Anyway, I should really get going. Ja ne!"

There was a pop and smoke and Kakashi was gone. Sakura and Sasuke stared at the spot where Kakashi stood and then at each other.

"Uhm, Sakura?"

"Y..Yes Sasuke-kun?"

_Inner Sakura: "Yeah! Sasuke-kun is asking me to go on a date with him! HELL YEAH!"_

"I was wondering if you want to train with me?"

_Inner Sakura: "Ok, not a date but good enough!"_

"Yes!"

"Ok…why don't we get lunch first. Then we'll train by the lake beside my house."

_Inner Sakura was doing somersaults in Sakura's head._

"We'll show Naruto he's not the only one with cool jutsus." He said as he turned to smile at her.

Sakura thought that she could die now that she had seen Sasuke-kun's "killer smile"

_Inner Sakura: "Baka! Why die now when you're on a roll!_

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\_  
_

"This is so boring….." a certain blonde sand kunoichi said to no one in particular while staring out the window at the inn they were staying. 

"Anyway where the hell did Gaara went anyway? Aren't you supposed to watch him ne?"

Kankurou stopped working on Karasu and glared at Temari.

"Hey, I'm not his babysitter. And it's not like I can stop him if he wanted to go anywhere."

"Whatever." Temari replied as she grabbed her fan and went for the door.

"Where are you going?"

Temari didn't answer but slammed the door on Kankurou.

"And don't come back!" Kankurou yelled from inside.

"Asshole…"

Temari muttered as she stepped out of the inn and walked around. One thing she liked in this village was that sand wasn't always getting blown all over your face. She also noticed that the buildings around here looked better than the ones in Hidden Sand but then there was really no need to for sand will just ruin it. She then looked for a place where she can train. Her opponent in the finals was also a wind user so she had to think up ways to counter her opponent. She finally found such a place. She whipped out of her fan and made a few swipes at the air to warm up. Feeling satisfied, she threw her fan like a boomerang and formed a couple handseals.

"Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A pair of fan clones appeared on both sides of the real one as it spun through the air. The real one hit a tree and sliced through and circled around towards her while the clones vanished in a small cloud. Temari spun around and caught the fan then fell back to a defensive stance.

"_Oh yeah, I rock!_ " she smiled to herself.

"Bravo, that was a nice one."

Temari turned around and saw a guy standing a short distance away, clapping.

"Who the hell are you?"

"Forgive me for interrupting your training." He said as he walked closer.

"Kazama Dan." He said as he extended a hand.

Temari eyed him warily as she shook his hand. "Sabaku no Temari"

"It's been a while since I've met a fan user. And it also appears you're not from around here ne?"

"I'm here taking part in the finals of the Chuunin Exams"

"Oh, I see. That move you used earlier was a good one. Though It can use some improvement. May I?"

Temari was wary to give him her weapon but at the same time was curious to see a man use a fan. So she lent him the fan.

"Thank you."

He then snapped open the fan and threw it like a boomerang and formed handseals.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

A dozen fan clones appeared in the air, spinning with the original as they went on a destructive path. Temari stared as the clones didn't vanish when they hit a tree but went through it. Dan dispelled the clones as soon as he caught the original. Temari was amazed at the moderate destruction caused by the spinning fans.

"My, I'm becoming a bit rusty. Anyway you got the seals?"

Temari nodded as Dan handed the fan back to her.

"Well just practice it.it's not as easy as it looks. And maybe if I see you around again I'll show you another move. I have to go now. See you around."

"Wait…" Temari called but was disappointed as he disappeared in a small cloud. She had to admit he was skilled with the fan. And maybe she can get him to show her his techniques. Anyway she remembered the seals he did and was determined to do better. She took a deep breath and then threw the fan once more then formed the same handseals.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

"Ne, Kyuubi-chan, why do I have to go with you to shop for clothes?" 

Naruto was walking home carrying shopping bags on both hands and a kitten on his head. (He lied to his team that he was going to the old geezer.)

"_Dummy, you want me to go in there naked?"_

Naruto saw the point seeing that Kyuubi had no other dress other than the robe she used to wear. But then..

"Oh, yeah? How about a guy buying girl's underwear? And you had to choose the expensive ones……."

Naruto sadly thought that most of his savings were already gone. How on earth is going to buy ramen now?

"_Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'll repay you later tonight."_

"Uhm, repay me?" How?"

"_Oh just wait Naruto-kun. You'll see. Now, Hurry up home and run 50 laps around Konoha!"_

"Ok, Sakura that's enough. You're too tired, we can continue tomorrow."

Sakura, panting from exhaustion, look up towards Sasuke. They were on a dock in the lake near the now deserted Uchiha compound

"Hai…."

She attempted to get up but her knees buckled beneath her. Sasuke however, was quick enough and caught her by the arm.

"I think I may have rushed teaching you fire jutsus. Your current chakra reserve not enough. We must focus on building up your chakra first."

"Yeah….I…think so….too…." Sakura replied in between heavy breathing.

"You're a mess" he then smiled at Sakura. "I'll take you home, no buts." He slung her arm around his shoulder and helped her get up.

Sakura smiled back weakly at him, to exhausted to refuse and it's not like she wanted to say no anyway.

_(Inner Sakura: OH YEAH! TAKE THAT INO-PIG! TRUE LOVE WINS!)_

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Kankuro was messing around with Karasu. When someone suddenly pounded on the door. Kankuro paused to think, what if it was Gaara? Then he remembered that Gaara never knocked he just uses his sand to get around doors. And he certainly didn't want to be cooped up with Gaara alone. Baki-sensei? Nah, he told them he'll be away to Hidden Sand to help on finishing the invasion plans and won't be back for at least a week. That left one person.

"KANKUROU! IF YOU DON'T OPEN THIS DAMN DOOR, I'M GONNA TAKE IT OF IT'S HINGES AND SLAM IT ON YOUR GODDAMNED HEAD!"

Yep, it was definitely her.

"Yeah, yeah coming."

The moment he unlocked the door, the door slammed in his face, hitting him squarely in the nose as Temari stumbled to the room looking like hell and leaning on her fan like a walking stick.

"AHHH! MY NOSE!"

Kankurou dropped to the floor holding his nose and squirming in pain. Temari just laughed out loud and staggered to her room. She shut her door behind her and crashed on her bed.

She did it. She had done a shadow clone of her fan. She had been greatly thrilled when she did them correctly. They didn't disappear on contact with another object. She managed to create a dozen clones but they took a big toll on chakra. But it was a start, she just need to increase her chakra reserves. And she wondered if she could use it to make clones of herself. She definitely had to find that guy again. She ignored Kankurou's cussing in the other room and drifted off to sleep.

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\

Naruto stumbled into his apartment and fell down on the floor. Kyuubi disguised as a kitten leapt off his head and turned back to her human form. She leaned over Naruto and shook her head.

"Tsk tsk, Naruto-kun, you're not getting laid tonight. I expected better from you."

"You….made..me…run 50 laps..with this two shopping bags….what do you…expect…?"

"Oh, never mind Naruto-kun, I'll shag you next time. But first…."

Kyuubi went through the shopping bags and emptied them of it's contents and dumped them on the bed.

"I gotta try these things on first!"

She stripped off her robe and picked up one of the set of underwear they bought this afternoon and put them on.

"Hmm….it seems it's a bit tight but oh well…." She said as she tried on the a bra. Poor Naruto almost died when she stripped right in front of him without any qualms at all and was trying (and failed) to stop the blood freely running out his nose.

"Oh? Naruto-chan…why is there drops of blood on the floor hmm?"

She then took out a dress that quite resembled Sakura's outfit except that it was black and the front part was gone and the back part was longer.(imagine Tifa's outfit in FF AC)

"What do you think Naruto-chan?" she said as she twirled around infront of a mirror.

Naruto's nosebleed had slowed down to a trickle now and doesn't need to cover his nose.

"It looks great! But don't you usually wear shorts or something?"

"Of course silly! I won't go around in my underwear! Only you have the luck to see me like this."

She put her face close to Naruto's and twirled her index finger on his chest.

"Isn't that right Naruto-kun?"

"Y...yes."

"Very well." she said with sudden seriousness. "Have some rest now. Tomorrow we will continue training."

She removed the things on the bed and put them in a cabinet and then laid on the bed.

Naruto just stood there looking at her.

"What are standing there for! Get cleaned up and come to bed!"

* * *

A/N: Yeah I know, it's lame. Anyway please leave your flames and comments. 


	9. Chapter 8

Disclaimer - All original Naruto characters are not mine

A big thanks to all the nice people who reviewed the last chapter.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_Chapter 8_

It was a very early morning, the sun has not even risen yet, but a pink haired girl and raven haired boy didn't seem to mind.didn't seem to mind the early hour as they engaged in a sparring match. It wasn't a really great show at all considering that the girl used to be really pathetic at taijutsu but with the boy's help she's steadily improving. The match was halted abruptly when Sakura hit Sasuke squarely in the nose.

"Argh! My nose!"

"Sasuke-kun! I'm so sorry!" Sakura said as she approached Sasuke who was rubbing his nose.

Sasuke waved Sakura away. "No, I'm fine. You're just getting better."

"Really!"

"I just didn't expect you to hit me though..."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"You two seem close..."

Both turned towards the speaker and was surprised when they saw who it was.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Both said in unison

"Hmm, I must say I'm impressed with the two of you."

Kakashi circled the two while mumbling things to himself. Sakura and Sasuke just eyed him warily.

"Sakura, I'm glad that you're improving steadily. Sasuke, it's very kind of you to train with Sakura. If only you took Naruto too."

Sakura and Sasuke were slightly appalled by the idea of training with Naruto.

_"Pfftt...Like that idiot will be of any help. He'll just annoy the hell out of me."_

_"Naruto? Train with us? No way! I finally have Sasuke-kun all by myself and there's no way he'll be ruining it!"_

"Oh nevermind, the reason I came here is because I was going to take Sasuke for one-on-one training. But since you're here Sakura, you can come to."

"Really!"

"Yes, after all the Finals in just two weeks away."

"Enough talk let's just start."

"Fine,fine but we need to go to a more suitable location. Follow me."

Both gennins nodded and went after Kakashi.

* * *

Temari returned to her usual training ground. Kankurou was being an asshole again so she left him at the inn they were staying in and she couldn't find the guy she previously met anywhere. In a word she was pissed off. The finals were getting nearer everyday. She had spent the past few days meditating to boost her chakra reserves and practicing her newly learned jutsu as well as some she already knew and felt confident she will win in her match. She inhaled deeply, then whipped out her fan, snapped it open and threw it and began forming handseals. 

"Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"

She still could not create more than a dozen clones but she was using her chakra more effectively, using the least amount of chakra and still produce good results.

"THAT WAS GREAT DO IT AGAIN!"

Temari turned towards the person doing the yelling and saw the familiar orange-clad eyesore accompanied by a black-garbed girl.

"Hey, you're the guy who did the Suiryuudan no jutsu back at the prelims."

Naruto smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Heh! You ain't seen nothing yet! You just wait until the finals!

"Oh really, You know, you're more interesting than I thought."

Kyuubi, who felt a little left out stepped between the two. "Sorry girl, he's taken. Let's go Naruto-kun."

"Sorry, about that, and don't listen to what she says, she's a little bit nuts. By the way I'm Naruto."

"I see, my name is Temari."

"Well see you later Temari-chan! I have to train and goodluck in your match." Naruto said and went after Kyuubi while still waving to Temari."

"Good luck to you too." she replied and also waved back at Naruto. She continued to look into the direction Naruto and Kyuubi went off to for a while.

"Temari, what are you staring at?"

"Huh? What? Gaara! What are you doing here?" Several things instantly ran through her mind. _"Oh great, now my evil, psychotic little brother is here! What the hell does he want!' _She then thought that being nice was a great idea.

"I mean what does my little brother want now?" she added in a smile.

"That person you were talking to just a while ago..."

"You mean Naruto?"

"Not the boy, the girl. Shukaku is screaming in my head that I should run."

_"Well this is news, my evil, psychotic little brother is afraid of someone, and of all people a girl he just saw. What an idiot."_ she then said aloud "Scared, why would you be scared? She doesn't look that tough. And how did you find me?"

"Kankurou says you go out early and arrive home rather late and looking like hell. So i followed you."

Gaara then turned around and left. "And I think that new jutsu of yours is nice."

* * *

"Ok Naruto I think that's enough running for now." 

Naruto, after their meeting with Temari, had continued his daily routine for a month already of running laps around the village , which Kyuubi said will help boost his endurance. He stopped as Kyuubi had said, panting heavily.

"So, what do you want to do first, ninjutsu ,genjutsu or..."

"Teach me some cool fire jutsus! Like the ones Sasuke-teme has or even better!"

"Fine,fine but first things first." Kyuubi said in a serious tone.

Naruto didn't say anything but just waited for her to talk again.

"Listen to me carefully, I had been thinking over what happened to us..."

"What happened?" Naruto interrupted causing Kyuubi to bonk him on the head.

"Dummy, my release from the seal the Yondaime placed on you to imprison me. Now don't interrupt me again."

Kyuubi waited a bit for any retort but seeing Naruto won't say anything else continued speaking.

"You must have known before that you're huge stamina was because of me. Now that I am out of you, you're stamina should be normal as anyone else's. But seeing your performance during your daily run, it seems as your stamina is still the same as before."

"Uhm, so what does this mean?" Naruto piped up.

"You still has your monstrous stamina AND my chakra is still mixing with yours. Which means..."

"Mean what?"

Kyuubi glared at Naruto and was about to hit him again but decided against it and continue talking.

"A side-effect of that "thing" that snake-guy did to you back in the "Forest of death" Kyuubi held up her index and forefingers on each hand and made a punctuation marks in the air "was for some weird reason, our chakra must somehow have been linked."

Naruto scratched his head. "Linked? I don't understand..."

"Look at it this way, during the prelims you used a Suiton jutsu and there wasn't a drop of water in that place. At your level that should have been impossible maybe not if there was a lake nearby. Using Suiton jutsu's without a nearby body of water takes double the amount of chakra. How is this possible? You used my chakra that's why."

Naruto appeared dazed when Kyuubi finished talking.

"And why are you telling me this?"

"I'm telling you this well, because...it's uhm...important! So you wouldn't hold back during a fight. But I'm not really sure the rest of the details. I think that the snake-guy either made a mistake or didn't know that somehow our chakra were linked or this must be an effect of the Yondaime's seal. Anyway enough of talk, I'm going to show you stuff you would love."

"Yay! Finally! Teach me that jutsu Sasuke-teme used against Kakashi-sensei!"

"Naruto-kun, that's duck soup, I'm going to teach you jutsus Kages use."

"Really! Well, I've never seen the old geezer fight but he should be great he's a Hokage for crying out loud."

"Yeah you talk too much Naruto-kun, let's just train shall we?"

* * *

The Third was lazily looking over the day's paperwork assisted by Ayako when a Chuunin entered the office. 

"What is it?"

"Hokage-sama, there is someone outside who insists that he must see you right now."

"Oh? Who is it? What does he says he want?"

"I think it must be Dan, Hokage-sama." Ayako whispered. "Last night he said something about dropping by."

"He won't tell us why but he looks dangerous. And I can't really distuinguish his face since he's wearing sunglasses. What shall we do?" the Chuunin replied.

'Hmm...I'll handle this. Send him in."

"Hai.."

The Chuunin left and a few minutes later, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and young man went in, then removed his sunglasses.

"Hello Sarutobi-sensei."

"Is that you..Dan?" The Third said, while rising from his seat.

"Oh, and hello to you too Ayako-chan."

"Good morning." Ayako replied with a big smile.

"Dan, I'm surprised it's been a while. Where have you been all this time?"

"Oh nothing much. Been around from one village to the next. I study any useful jutsu i may come upon and I'm proud to say, I mastered quite a lot."

"That's good, just don't get to addicted to jutsus or you'll become like _him_."

"Don't worry sensei, I won't sink to that level. And speaking of _him_, Have you heard about the Hidden Village of Sound? It's a relatively new village."

"Yes, in fact in the current Chuunin Selection Exam, there are some participants from that village."

"Did you also know that the Hidden Sound's leader and founder is Orochimaru?'

"Yes, and unfortunately we discovered it only late in the exam. He made an unpleasant incident in the Forest of Death."

"Incident?"

"Ayako? would you kindly leave us for a moment? We have some sensitive things to discuss."

"Sure, Hokage-sama. I'll just be outside."

Ayako bowed, and went for the door. As soon as she was outside, Sarutobi resumed speaking.

"During the second test. Orochimaru killed some gennins from the Hidden Grass, took their faces with one of his jutsus. Then went after Team 7 consisting of Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke."

"Uchiha? Is he..."

"Yes..." The Hokage interrupted. "Uchiha Itachi's younger brother."

"And The Yondaime's Legacy...i don't know anything about the other. But what was Orochimaru's motive?"

Sarutobi cleared his throat first. He then walked to window and gazed at the Hokage monument.

"I'm not really sure what it is. But he placed a Cursed Seal on the Uchiha."

"The one like...ummm.." Dan stopped to think for a moment but couldn't remember what it was. "I forgot her name, who was the woman that you say used to be his apprentice?"

"You mean Anko and yes, it's the same one as hers. However, based on what I saw he's resisting the Cursed Seal quite well."

"And what about Naruto?"

"Orochimaru only placed the seal on Sasuke. He didn't do anything to the other two."

"Then he must be after the Sharingan."

"That's the same conclusion I also came to."

Both men stopped for a moment to think. Sarutobi went back to his desk and sat in his chair

"Anyway, I'm really glad you're back. I hope you spent your time away here wisely." he then exhaled deeply, blowing a lot of smoke from his pipe in the air. "I always regretted that you were born twenty years too late, if you were just born earlier, I could have thought you everything I knew."

"Don't say that Sarutobi-sensei, I always thankful for the short time I have been your "student". And you should quit smoking too. You're getting old already, it might kill you."

Sarutobi laughed out loud and blew another puff of smoke into the air.

"Don't say that. I think I'll live for another ten years or so. Anyway, Ayako told me that you wanted to know where Naruto lives, Why?"

"I'm just interested on how he's become. He has great potential, specially with that unlimited chakra of his."

"Ah...talk about that troublesome kid. He was really impressive during the preliminaries for the third test. Did you know he can use Kokuangyo no jutsu and Suiryuudan?"

"Suiryuudan? Where was the test held?"

"In the tower in the forest of death. There is no body of water there."

"Impressive, it should be impossible for a gennin to do that. He must have use the Nine Tail's chakra."

"I think so too. Anyway the the third test is tommorrow. A lot of people are going to watch and there will also be the some Feudal Lords who will also watch."

Sarutobi handed him a piece of paper showing the match-ups for the third test.

"Hmm...Naruto's up against a Hyuuga?"

"Hyuuga Neiji, last year's top rookie."

"And the Uchiha is against a Gaara.."

"He's a gennin from the Hidden Sand. His team was the first to complete the Second Test. Took them only 10 hours."

"You're not impressed?"

"You really are getting old, The only exam i took is the Academy Graduation Exam."

"Oh, I forgot you were such a genius." The Hokage laughed. "Anyway, i have a hunch that Orochimaru's going to do something during the exam."

"So what's your plan?"

Sarutobi put on his hat and walked to the door.

"Let's step outside for a moment shall we?"

* * *

Temari was polishing her battle fan while Kankuro was tinkering with Karasu. Both went quietly on what they were doing. 

"The Main Matches are tommorrow." Kankuro said out of nowhere.

"You know, if you took the Chuunin Exam earlier you may have been Chuunin already."

Temari looked up from her work. "Don't say that." Though inwardly, Temari knew it was true.The only reason they took part in this exam was so they can infiltrate Konoha.

"Your opponent is someone fron the Hidden Sound, isn't that the new village and from you know."

"I won't go easy on him just because we're supposed to be "allies". And it's not like I'll lose to someone his level."

"I'd rather have your opponent. Mine is sort of creepy. Ugh, did you see the bugs coming out of jacket? That was disgusting, I hope I don't lose because I was to grossed out."

"I know what you mean." Temari replied. "If that guy was my opponent I think I'll back out. Anyway whatever happens we must succeed in our mission. I hope Gaara is prepared."

'He'd better be." Kankuro resumed tinkering with Karasu. "This mission's success depends on his performance. And it's not like anyone can defeat him."

Temari smirked. "Right, even if he's Uchiha Sasuke, too bad I think he's cute."

"O.O"

"What!"

* * *

Kakashi looked over his two students. Sakura and Sasuke both sat on the ground breathing heavily. 

"You two are doing great. Specially you Sakura, that training you did with Sasuke helped a lot. However, don't use your new jutsus too much, your chakra reserve is not that big as Sasuke and doing so will quickly deplete it. Think carefully before using them. And as for you."

He glanced at Sasuke.

"Your limit is two shots."

"And if I do more?"

"Will not happen. The worst thing is if you force a third one you'll die. The last time i used it four times in a day, i was asleep for a week. And you have to use it with the Sharingan so it takes up a lot of chakra."

Kakashi then took out his perverted book.

"Well, that's all for now. Go home and get a lot of sleep. I've got something to do."

Sakura and Sasuke stared at an empty space for a while after Kakashi left.

"Uhm...Sasuke-kun?"

"Yes?"

"Uhm...Would you like to grab a bite with me?"

"Not now Sakura." Sasuke replied while getting up. "I'm too tired to do anything. I just want to go home and sleep."

_"Waahh! Sasuke-kun dumped me again!"_ Sakura wailed to herself, almost in tears.

"Why don't we just go home, I'll walk you to your house."

_"Then again, there may still be hope. YAY!"_

"Uh, sure Sasuke-kun."

They didn't say anything to each other on the way to Sakura's house. However they drew some stares from some fangirls on the way.

"Thank you for walking me home, Sasuke-kun..." she said as they arrived at Sakura's house.

"It's nothing."

"See you tommorrow then."

"Yeah, see you too."

Sakura was about to close go inside when Sasuke spoke again.

"Sakura, wait."

"Hm?"

"Goodluck tommorrow."

"Ah..uhm...Goodluck to you too Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke smiled a little and then went off. Sakura stared dreamily at the direction Sasuke went to for a while before her mother yelled at her to come inside and close the damn door.

* * *

Dan was walking home after seeing the Hokage and talked about various things. Orochimaru's return to Konoha was news to him but wasn't really worried. He was sure he can handle Orochimaru. But The Hokage was another matter. He was certain no one in Konoha can fight with Orochimaru head on. Dan was still musing on what he and Sarutobi had talked about that he barely noticed the bright blonde head wearing the orange jumpsuit as it passed by him. But that wasn't the one he noticed first. He stared at the girl that was with Naruto. He felt the enormous power she was concealing. There was no doubt about it. For some reason 

she was free. He doesn't know why. But he'll find out soon. He began following Naruto and his "friend".

"Bah! I'm so hungry! I can eat the Ichiraku whole!"

"Not going to work Naruto-kun, you'll have wooden splinters in your stomach."

Both were walking home after today's training and decided to stop by the ramen stand to get dinner.

"Naruto-kun, your big fight is tommorrow. You should stop yelling your head off and save your energy for tommorrow."

"Hmph! I got a lot of jutsus now! My fight will be a piece of cake."

"Now, don't show too much and use too many of your jutsus in a fight. You should never show all your techniques to the enemy and besides, it's not even a real battle for crying out loud."

Naruto was about to speak again but Kyuubi abruptly pulled him towards an empty sidestreet.

"What the..."

Kyuubi motioned for him to keep quiet. Someone's following us." she whispered

Naruto instanly got into a stance and looked around.

"Ok whoever you are. Better come out now. I know where you are."

A crow fluttered down to the ground near Naruto and Kyuubi. A moment later, it went out in a small cloud and in it's place, a man stood.

_"Ooohhhh! Flashy entrance!"_ Naruto said to himself, keeping in mind to imitate it sometime.

"Who are you?" Kyuubi asked.

Kyuubi paled as she saw the mans eyes changed from normal.

"No...it can't be..."

"It's been a while...Kyuubi no Yoko."

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A/N: Sorry for the long update. Some might have noticed that some characters are a bit OOC. I didn't notice until i re-read the whole story again. Anyway, i hope this one's a good chapter and I want to thank again the nice people who reviewed the last chapter. Happy Holidays!


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